[Aleksey Glukhov]

Hello,

Need help identifying this long jian. I think it to be a royal court sword. Singnature states qing dynasty, under emperor chang lun. (what ive been told) Has a very nice darkened blade with gold and silver inlays. For an old sword blade is in a really good condition hmmm.... Ivory handle. wood scabbard. Wanted to see if this is a tourist replica or maybe a good court jian.
From what I know about it it was brought back by a vet from England in the early 50's

Thank you in advance for any information :-)

[J. Erb]

I'm most definitely not an expert (no doubt they'll chime in soon ), but I couldn't resist talking about the jian, a type of sword I've become rather fond of. This is the sort of topic that will never fail to spark my interest.

These may seem like some stupid questions, but perhaps it would help to be absolutely clear about the details:
By vet do you mean military veteran or animal veterinarian? I ask only to have the right idea of the individual in question. It's my understanding that the sword was brought back (to where-ever) in the '50s, but is anything specific known about where or when it was acquired by the individual in question? Since we're discussing a jian, I'm assuming China, but . . .

I doubt I've got all my facts straigt (it's been a few years since World History II), but I've a vague idea that China may not have been the most ideal place to be a tourist in the '50s. If so, I don't think 'tourist replicas' would have been commonly available, or even as popular as they are today.

I can only guess, of course. To my untrained eye, the scabbard certainly looks battered enough to possibly be authentic. The blade and hilt do seem to be in good condition, however. Speaking of the blade -- could we maybe get some more close-ups? Also, do you know if it really is silver inlay? It's my understanding that silver tarnishes with time, but the work in the photos looks quite clean.

Again, I'm no expert and I can only speculate. I'll be keeping an eye on this topic, though!

[Troy G L Williams]

[Bram Verbeek]

I am puzzled as to what the crosshatching on the blade could be... The sword looks as if it spend the better part of its life sheathed, there seem to be very few (if any) nicks on the blade. The blade seems a little impractical to have been used (or actually, to be maintained after use). I really don't think it's a tourist prop, especially if there is an ivory handle on it, that said, it still could be a semi-recent blade before the arrival of communism. As other people, I am no expert, just my 2 eurocents

[Risto Rautiainen]

My guess is that the crosshatching would be to make the silver inlay to stick. As you see, there's no marks where there is no inlay.

[Aleksey Glukhov]

From what I understand it was a war vet. Im very concerned too about really good blade condition, check out the ivory hilt, underneath, on the blade there is a lotsof rust? I will test the gold...is it possible that it has been taken care of really good?





Thank you again :-)

[Allan Senefelder]