I recently came across this picture on the internet. The owners claim they've had it in their possesion for 55 years. That's all they know. Does anyone have a clue as to what this may be?

As far as I can see the pommel seems to be hollow and has some kind of rope, cord or string attached to it, but it's somewhat hard to judge from the picture. The "hole" (or whatever it may be) in the pommel gives the impression of some type of maritime implement. My first impression was that the weapon might be of Asian origin, but now I'm not so sure... One strong mental image that comes across is that it could also be some kind of home-made peasant weapon. I don't know from what possible Century it might hail though.

Known measurements:
Length: 138cm.
Width of blade at tip: 8.5cm.

Best regards,

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Looks like a Chinese Dadao. But I'm not an expert on Chinese weapons.

Could be a beheading sword. But that's just a guess on my part since it doesn't look like it'd be an effective battlefield weapon.

A search on antiqueswords.com yielded this: http://www.antiqueswords.com/crhs1.htm

But I'm still not sure the two are of the same kind. :confused:

If my guess is correct, with a hilt : blade at 1:1 proportion, these swords are Chinese zhanmadao. (horse cutting sword)

Yeah I would call it a zhanmadao or a pudao. It really isn't so much a sword as a polearm.

I have a similar one in my collection from the 19th century and have always referred to it as a dadao. I posted a pic below. The photo is deceiving, it is actually quite long.

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All your answers has shed some light on my question. I thank you all. I found this "sword" on a swedish auction site, with no price tag on it. I wonder if it would be worth a bid? Whats reasonable? How much would you guys pay for it?

I cant remember what I paid for mine since I purchased it in a Korean antique store almost 6 years ago. I think at the time with the conversion rate it was somewhere in the $150 USD range. I guess it matters how bad you want it. I dont think I would pay more than $175, but thats just me.

Mike

It´s more like I´m unfortunate and don´t own any antiques. An old weapon would sit nice on my wall. But I would of course like to look at the thing before money would change hands.

I know how that feels. It took me awhile before I got my first antique weapon. I started with the Spanish wallhangers and worked from there. I dont have a lot of antiques, but I have a nice little collection. When I lived in Korea, the antique district in Seoul was full of wonderful weapons from all over Asia. I just wish I saved more money and brought home more.
I would think living in Sweden would turn up some nice examples. Even if it is an inexpensive piece in poor shape, its a start!

Mike

Well, Sweden has alot of blades but most of them are in museums own by the state, so the market are smaller than you would think. But I´ve got my Granpa´s old Police Saber from 1943 :D !!

But a rare thing Joachim Nilsson and I found in a antiquestore in the old city in Stockholm was an original Bronzeage blade, going for just 35000 Swedish "Kroner", something like 4200$. A little bit out of my league :\ ...