antique 19thc chinese dao sword knife asian china navy cutlass naval

A good 19thc example of a Chinese dao sword - cutlass type that is similar to the hudiedao type in shorter size but a full sized sword.
Could well be a Boxer rebellion period dao or possibly naval Chinese ?, the steel knuckle guard and blade trapping device would suggest naval to me but I am not an expert so will leave that to the people out there who will surely know.

The sword is very well balanced in the hand although being quite heavy and is easy to manoeuvre, much more so than the typical footsoldiers daos of the same period this is a much better made thing altogether as I see it and having owned many Chinese swords.The blade is laminated and shows differential heat treat along the cutting edge, the steel is very hard and the cutting edge still quite sharp, the spine thickness is thick with distil taper towards its tip, it has a slight flex but only at its tip end.
there is no damage to the cutting edge or other visible damage to this blade.The hilt is made from a hardwood that I have not seen before, likely a native hardwood from China, the guard is and all in one piece guard that is very sturdy and without any looseness or wobble, all of the hilt mounts are in iron and are very good and well made well forged solid parts, the tang is a through tang that end with a washer and is peened at its pommel end, everything about this sword is tight and good with no movement.The sheath is made from red painted leather with the original white or may have once been green leather decorational top and bottom sections, sadly the bottom chape end is missing some leather but with the right leather working skills could easily be replaced. In the last pic attached you can see similar daos worn and used.
Chinese police officers employed by the Russians, probably in Port Arthur. Circa 1900. Note the modern, western style swords, that have been issued to this unit. The transition to western arms was almost complete by 1890. Source: Image taken from a vintage stereoscope slide. This would have been another easily available image of Chinese law enforcement.

size is 77.7cm in total in scabbard and when out, blade is 64cm, spine thickness is at the guard end 9.4cm, at the tip it is 1.3mm thick, at the widest point of the blade is is 34.6mm.Prices, we do allow room for offers as long as they are not low ball stupid offers so please do not waste yours and my time making low offers, we are happy to haggle on prices as is normal in the antiques trade.Payment and shipping please contact me for details, we can ship worldwide to almost all destinations but not Russia China or Vietnam, prices differ but we ship with full tracking and can use various couriers to get the item to you.We do not take returns on any edged weapons due to UK nanny state laws on importing edged weapons and any return would be by UK customs '' not allowed'', so please do not purchase unless you are 100% sure that you know what you are buying, do your research which is always best when buying.

Antiques.co.uk Ref: GHF2FQKXX

Maker/Artist:

Chinese made

Materials:

steel wood leather iron

Width (cm):

--

Height (cm):

--

Depth (cm):

--

Please note that this price may NOT include delivery charges which the seller may charge extra for.

Make an Offer

Golden Kingdoms

Golden Kingdoms are collectors and dealers of Asian and Islamic antiques, we specialize in Asian, South east Asian, Chinese, Indian, Persian & other regional Asian and Islamic colonial period antiques and ethnographic edged weapons jewellery Buddhist and tribal regional art etc. If you do not see anything you like in our list of for sale items contact us and ask as we maybe able to accommodate you, we have hundreds of Asian antiques in stock that are for sale so may have just what you are looking for.

Contact details