Check out this beautiful antique Chinese sword on ebay....

[Thomas Chen]

Hi guys

Check out this beautiful and exquisite antique Chinese sword on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=858885579

The twisted and twirling patterns are due to the forging process that serves to improve the quality of the steel as well as add to its beauty.......

Chinese swords really ROCK !!!



Cheers
Thomas Chen

[Chang Style Novice]

Hey, my birthday is coming up, you know...:D

[Tae Li]

wow, cool pics and nice sword but my Samurai is nicer;)

Tae Li;)

On the handle of the sword that I have is a dragon..really cool.

so else has swords and whats special about it or them?

Mine is special cos it was a gift from my bro on my 16th bday, about two years after i got into martial arts....

[GeneChing]

I had a jian from the same cutler. The sword fittings and furniture were almost identical, but the blade was no where near aa snice as that one. If memory serves, mine was a short jian too - man, i can't even remember if I still have it or not. Those sword dealing days seem so long ago now...

[Silumkid]

Wow! Very nice indeed. The blade almost looks like Damascus steel. Too bad I don't have an extra $500 to throw around right now.

[Xebsball]

:D:D
Sweet.

Too bad the only swords i find here are wushu type.

[Mantis9]

Do you sell these jian or know who does? Is there a catalog or a website? I am very interested in swordmanship, sword smithing, and history.

Thanks for any info.

[Ka]

I expected something of this age( Ming) to fetch alot more then $500,I know that a similar katana of this age in good nick would go for a lot more.
Any reasons?

[Thomas Chen]

To Mantis9:

I am a scholar/researcher on Chinese swords and I have already setup a few dedicated websites/links on Chinese swords/swordsmithing, Chinese 2-handed swordsmanship and Chinese armor:

Chinese swords and link to 2-handed swordsmanship
http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com

Chinese armour
http://chinese-armour.freewebspace.com



To Ka:
The blade is most probably from the later Qing Dynasty, not Ming...... Connoisseurship and knowledge of Chinese swords is not widespread right now, resulting in antique Chinese swords being undervalued and underpriced as most people do not appreciate their actual/potential monetary and intrinsic/artistic value....But these should change as my book on Chinese swords will be published in a few years time..... :)


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To Xebsball:
There is a Taiwanese swordmaker based in China by the name of Paul Chen who makes good quality replicas of Chinese jian and Imperial-style sabers selling thru dealer CAS Iberia:

Jian
http://www.casiberia.com/dynasty.html

Chinese Imperial Saber:
http://www.casiberia.com/np-oriental.html


Another China-based Taiwanese swordmaker Fred Chen has reproduced Qing Dynasty Imperial Sabers as well, a pic of it can be seen at my website:
http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com/photo5.html


All these blades have some form of damascus twisted and/or twirling pattern and are typically more beautiful in appearance/form than the wushu weapons we see nowadays.


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Guys, you know what, I really look forward to seeing more Chinese martial arts practitioners using quality antique Chinese swords or modern replicas forged using the traditional methods to practise their double-edged jian or broadsword techniques, rather than use those combat or spring steel wushu swords which are historically not as accurate and sometimes are of inferior workmanship.





Cheers
Thomas Chen


ps: I can be contacted at email: pvc34@yahoo.com and I wish to highlight that I am not related to either Paul Chen or Fred Chen though we share the same surname..... :D

[Ka]

Thomas,
Thanks for the reply,it seems a pity that Chinese weapons are rarely treated with the respect they deserve.Unlike Japanese stlyes where they go out of there way to preserve the weight,stlye etc of the weapons for practise and usage.

Perhaps Chinese Weapons of Quality and verifiable age would be a good investment for the future(or at least it would be nice to train with a proper weighted one)

Good Luck with your book

[GeneChing]

Japanese swords are over priced on the whole. It'll all stemmed from Japan's big buyback - once Japan regained world economic strength, many buyers came to the U.S. to buy back swords taken during WWII. Some of our U.S. vets had some pretty high pirced peices stored in their closets. This shot the price of Japanese stuff through the roof. When I was dealing swords, I would see WWII factory made guntos (military issue) go for up to $500 - that's way too much. Some good chinese stuff would go for a steal. Still does now and again, but there are more dealers now and the market is getting more expensive.

The Chinese market is a well kept secret. Most of the stuff is undocumented, unlike the Japanese and Indonesian blades, so it's difficult for buyers to know the worth of things. Scott Rodell and Ian Szymanowski used to deal in antiques. I haven't heard from either in a several months tho...

Thomas, you should submit us an article...

BTW, I'm a Chen too. It's Ching because my granddad spoke Hakka...

[fgxpanzerz]

chinese swords were made with terrible medalurgy. They can't compare to japanese swords.

[Black Jack]

Lynn Thompson at Cold Steel has made a few Chinese swords, I love Cold Steel knifes, so there swords should be excellent, what I like about the Cold Steel swords is that you know they are not demo swords, but are actually made with self defense in mind, very-very sharp and strong, can be used for serious cutting practice.

I myself after seeing one, want a 1917 Saber, talk about a home defense weapon:D

Go to www.coldsteel.com and check out the sword section, they have a gim and a few other battle worthy chinese pieces.

[Thomas Chen]

To fgxpanzerz:

If you have studied and analyzed the top-end antique Chinese swords I had the privilege of studying, you would realize that they have metallurgical characteristics that would equal the best of the best Japanese blades. I feel that the general public needs to be educated on the superb features and world-class qualities of Chinese swords, as lack of documentation, info and knowledge on Chinese swords is really widespread in the sword collecting world. That is why I setup my websites to educate the public and am writing a book. Do not let the cheap modern wushu swords you see in the streets influence your opinions on the true and geniune qualities of antique Chinese swords.

I have written an article on the superiority / inferiority question of Chinese swords versus Japanese swords at:

http://chineseswords.freewebspace.com/contact.html

I hope you will find this article beneficial and interesting.

_________________________________________


To Gene:

Thanks for your suggestion for me to write an article. Will email you soon.

Scott Rodell and another prominent scholar Philip Tom, are also like me, working on the writing of books on Chinese swords. Hopefully, with more literature published and the setting up of a International Chinese sword society by yours truly, we should see prices going up and stabilizing and connoisseurship and knowledge levels going up. I would consider it as my sacred duty as a Chinese sword scholar to raise the level of prestige and artistic appreciation of Chinese swords around the world.

With the upcoming economic development / modernization of China, I also have no doubt that for the next 20-50 years, rich mainland Chinese would be some of the most avid collectors/commissioners of Chinese swords.

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To BlackJack:

Thanks for your post on Cold Steel; for your info, the Cold Steel gim / jian and other Cold Steel Chinese and Japanese-style swords are also manufactured by Fred Chen.





Cheers
Thomas Chen

[Mantis9]

Thank you for your reply. I have a great appreciation for the jian, though noticable not as well learned as yours is. The information is well appreciated.

The quality of blades in Chinese metalurgy is well kept secret. I discovered this first hand when my wife bought an excellent jian replica as her wedding present to me. Good jian and even better wife!!

:D

Thanks again.

[Xebsball]

Thanx for the links Thomas, although they are not really affordable to me right now due to importation taxes and shipping.

fgxpanzerz:
Educate youselve foo!

[Liokault]

The sword in the picture sold for $920. I bid $910 GRRRRRRRR but as the timer ran out as i was sleeping at around 4am I missed it.