Basket hilt sword if of unknown origin

**Crazy Dave** · 26th February 21, 10:48 AM

Today I took delivery of a basket hilt sword that I bought on an online action (not eBay). I am very happy with the purchase, given what I paid, but would be interested in finding out what I have. The blade is not sharp and the tip is blunt, which is fine with me. I can't think of any modern situation where a sharpened sword would be a good thing to have. Plus, I have grandchildren visiting the house. There appear to be temper lines so this looks like a folded steel blade, which is a surprise to me for a blunted blade. (I am a Kung Fu teacher and own a few Chinese swords, so I am familiar with real sword making techniques.) I had assumed I was buying a modern copy. The hilt is brass with a leather lining. The scabbard is chrome plated metal with 2 loops for attaching to baldric clips. The tip of the scabbard is somewhat unique (see link). I've had trouble posting pictures, but I did find the identical sword in a link (below), but I could not find any links that identify.

Have you seen a sword like this? Any idea what it is? I will also try to post pictures after I clean it up. It has some rust and looks like it sat unattended for a while. I've seen worse?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ined-404873378

**Luke MacGillie** · 27th February 21, 02:30 PM

Looks to be an Indian or Pakistan made sword.

**Crazy Dave** · 28th February 21, 10:19 AM

Well, at the price I paid, if you are correct, it is still a reasonable, but not a great deal, and that is exactly what I was expecting to get. The money did go to a charity, so all's well that ends well. Can you elaborate on what are you basing that judgement on? I'd look at the various Pakistani swords available online, before I bought. I did not see any that resembled it. Do you know of one that does? Keep in mind that I am a Chinese sword collector, and am very familiar with the techniques for making a good sword. I have friends with antique samurai swords and have seen and held the best of the best from various countries. I have also seen a lot of Pakistani swords, and the ones I've seen have very poor fit and finish and the metal was poor quality. This sword, has excellent fit and finish, although there is some minor rust both on the scabbard and the blade. IMO it is weapons grade finish and I am a 40 year plus trained swordsman is broadsword (da dao, straight sword (jian) and halbert (ja ma dao). I am a black sash instructor in Kung Fu, I teach all these weapons and I own weapons grade antiques of all them except for the halbert. The main thing that keeps me from thinking this is a sword from Pakistan it that it appears to be a forged folded steel blade. This can be faked, but even faking it is beyond the skill of the sword makers from Pakistan that I'm aware of. I've seen fake folded steel, and in my experience, it has been obvious. Note is is not the combination machined, hand hammered steel that is marketed as "Damascus" nowadays. It is a much finer striation that would not show up in a picture unless it was very close in.

After I clean the sword up, I will post pictures.

**Crazy Dave** · 4th March 21, 10:16 AM

I was able to clean the sword up a bit. There was a lot of surface rust on the scabbard, but since it was made out of some kind of alloy and not chrome plated, I didn't have to worry about polishing off the plating. The blade was in pretty good shape and I only had a little rust to polish off. Was using Mother's, but I will be picking up some Flitz polish to really make it shine. I will also be dismantling the basket hilt to clean and polish that.

I have photo's but every time I try to post them I get a failed message with no explanation. Photo's are taken on an iPhone loaded to a MacBook Air and are in jpeg format. I have no problem with any other website.

**Shinenotburn** · 4th March 21, 01:01 PM

See if your resolution is too high. I found that if you keep it to about 200 DPI it will work ok.

**Crazy Dave** · 4th March 21, 02:12 PM

That is a very good suggestion. I will give it a try.

**Crazy Dave** · 4th March 21, 02:47 PM

IMG_0102 copy.jpg Lets give it a test. Here is one of the images.

**Crazy Dave** · 4th March 21, 02:53 PM

Here are the rest of the images!

IMG_0104.jpg

IMG_0105.jpg

IMG_0103.jpg

**Crazy Dave** · 4th March 21, 02:55 PM

Thank you Shinenotburn!

**Crazy Dave** · 8th March 21, 01:13 PM

A place called Medieval Armory sells an identical sword. It is made by a manufacture named Medieval Craftsman and they sell it for 116,00 €, so the the blade could not be forged. Nobody could sell a forged blade for that price and stay in business. I am having trouble locating Flitz metal polish, but as soon as I get the blade fully cleaned up, I will take it to some other collector friends of mine and see what their opinion is.

Medieval Craftsman do not have a web presence, AFAIK.

https://medieval-armour.com/online-s...ilt-sword-html