Burmese dha overall
This item has been sold.
Overall length

Sheathed 77 cm

Sword 72.8 cm

Blade length

52.3 cm

Blade thickness

Base 10.5 mm

Middle 5 mm

5 cm from tip 3 mm

Blade width

Narrowest at base 23 mm

Widest at tip 29 mm

Weight

473 grams

Point of balance

10 cm from hilt

Materials

Iron, steel, bamboo, wood, brass, copper, resin, cotton

Origin

Bamar people of Burma

Dating

19th century

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Description

A typical Burmese dha of the Bamar majority of the country. The blade starts thick and narrow, thinning out in thickness as it reaches maximum width near the tip. It has an interesting and somewhat unusual set of grooves, including a wide groove at the base flanked by two narrow grooves on either side that wrap around a cartouche with text. Then follows a wide fuller on either side, starting alongside a long back bevel. It even has two short grooves at the base of the spine:

Short grooves at base

The hilt is made of a piece of bamboo root with a burly grain. Its pommel and ferrule are copper, inlaid with brass. This is quite unusual, because normally one would use the softer of two metals for the inlay but the opposite was done here. It gives a nice effect that I had not seen before, now covered with a beautiful patina.

 

Burmese dha hilt inlays

 

The scabbard is made of two halves of wood, held together by metal wires. A sliver from the mouth of the scabbard is missing. The rope binding there is a later replacement.

 

Markings

Markings are rarely seen on Burmese dha, so I'm always happy to see an example. In this case they seem to be good luck charms.

Markings left of Burmese dha blade

ယံရှင်းဓား
Jan Shin dā

"Danger eliminating sword"

 

 

 

 

 

Markings on dha blade

ဘေးယံကင်း
bei jan kin

"Be safe from danger"

 

 

 

 

Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings
Burmese dha with markings

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Currently available:

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