[David Donovan]

Let me first say that I've been visiting the site for a while and have greatly appreciated the wealth of information contained in the features and articles, and also provided by the members of the forums (I've gone so far as to set the site as my homepage). I'm a history major (taking far too long to finish) who also does some work for a local history museum giving tours to kids, and myArmoury.com has been a useful resource not only for scholarly information, but also for those "fun facts" that get kids interested in history (so that they can annoy their parents at the movies with shouts of "Hey, that guy's helmet is from the wrong period!")

With that said, I'd like to post a few pictures of a sword to get a verdict on just what it is. The founder of the museum brought this sword in one day from his personal collection. He collects a pretty wild and varied range of stuff, and wasn't able to tell me much about the sword, which looked a bit odd to me. I asked if I could take a few pictures to see if I could find anything similar, and I thought I'd post them here.

If I've got my terminology right, it (mostly) appears to be a backsword: it's single-edged except for the last 10" of the blade, which also has a false edge (blade: 34", overall: 42").



What looked strange to me was the hilt, especially the pommel. I looked through the albums on the site, and wasn't able to find anything similar.





Also, there's the matter of what I want to call the "giant mutant langets" or maybe "extended quillon block," which looks to be crudely welded to the blade.



This (plus the weird pommel) makes me wonder if it could just be one of those Victorian era (or later) cobbled-together-from-various-parts Frankensteinesque swords... I've looked at it a bit more, and the grip appears be metal under the velvet, and I'm wondering if the thing even has a tang, or if the lack thereof is the reason why the blade has been welded to the hilt. I also just had a friend state that some of the hilt parts struck him as having a bit of an Asian look to them... not sure what to make of that.

[Allan Senefelder]

This is an Indian sword called a Farangi, which roughly means "foreigner" if I rememeber right. It refers to the tendency to fit these swords with imported European blades. It seems that the velvet liner might be original which is tough to find. Your friend seems to have a nice well cared for example. Sometimes but not always obviously European makers marks can be seen on the blades of these.

[Jonathan Hopkins]

It is an Indian sword, and I believe it is called firangi, but I am not positive. Hopefully Manouchehr or another person with knowledge of Middle Eastern and Indian weapons can help out.

Jonathan

[David Donovan]

Thanks very much both of you for the replies! For some reason it never occurred to me that it might be from somewhere like India, I think the blade was making my brain lock into "European mode."

But that's really interesting about European sword blades being exported outside of Europe, I've never really looked into that. Are there any sources out there about how non-Europeans regarded European blades (good/bad)? I suppose it would probably vary from period to period (assuming there was much contact at all in some periods) as technology and techniques changed.

I at least seem to recall once reading an excerpt from a 19th century letter in which an American/European briefly comments on Japanese swords... and I have a book with a few passages from the diary of a 19th century Japanese diplomat, who comments on President James Buchanan's lack of "the two swords" or any other symbols of rank. But in both cases, it seemed more like a social commentary regarding the role of swords in society, and less about quality of blades or workmanship.

[Nate C.]

Greetings and welcome to myArmoury!

The type of sword you have is generally called a Firangi in reference to the indian slang term for white european and the blade's european origins. I have seen swords with the same hilt construction but a reverse tapering (wider tip than forte) blade called a Khanda. You might want to look at these links for more info.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=9576
Oriental Arms Site for another Firangi sword

On another note I often find it amusing how these terms appear the oddest places (Star Trek for example).

Cheers,