In July 2009 I took a trip to Shanghai in order to see China and learn Mandarin. Before the trip I had collected replica Japanese katanas, but never had thought about the old swords from China. In Shanghai I decided to buy a jian, a Chinese double edged sword, as a souvenir. I really only wanted a beautiful replica with dragons on the blade, the sort I had seen in the Chinese kung fu movies.
I went to the Yu Garden area in the centre of the city. There were lots of stores with cloth, pictures, souvenirs, but no swords. I asked a chessboard seller about typical Chinese swords and he phoned a friend who quickly came. That man, who was not a regular sword seller, took me to his house and showed me a beautiful old dao, a one edged Chinese sword.
To show me the hardness of the steel he hit the blade against another sword, and surprisingly it did not damage the blade. I thought it was a normal way to test a sword, but later when I told several antique sword experts they told me it was the wrong way to treat a sword !!!
The only old piece is the blade, the scabbard and handle were replaced. Despite that and despite my lack of knowledge of Chinese swords, its beauty and the high quality of the steel made me fall in love with it. I really felt that this dao was something special !!!Then I changed my mind and started to get information about old swords.
However I was not willing to pay as much money as the man asked for. I didn’t know if he was serious about the price or it was just a way to get as much money as possible from a tourist, so as I had basic knowledge of Chinese I went back to his house next day with a native friend to help me to translate and bargain.
The owner said that 15 years ago he bought four old swords in Pingyao city (Shanxi province) when there still were old swords for sale. He sold the other ones to another tourist and kept this dao, which was the best of all. He affirmed that if not buying from an antique sword collector it is so difficult to find an antique sword in China of this quality, and there was no way to make him accept a lower price.
Whether it was true or not, I do not know, but I did not think it was such a good idea to spend so much money on a sword from a collector and continued to search. I started to look for old swords in other places in Shanghai, while everyday I returned to the house of this seller to drink tea. In the end I found nothing, and left China without getting that sword.
Two months later, having learnt some things about Chinese daos, I went back to Shanghai and kept going to his house to drink tea and talk about the sword. I went to Xian, Pingyao and Beijing, toured all the antique markets and asked so many people about private citizens that owned old swords. But I only found fakes and more fakes, and of course sellers trying to cheat a foreigner.
It was then that I discovered that the Shanghainese seller was right, it is almost impossible to find a high quality old sword. I realized I must take the opportunity to that I chanced upon and try to do all in my power to buy this sword. Once again in Shanghai I visited him and after a few days negotiating, he lowered the price, but it was still so expensive. I left China empty handed again.
When I returned to Shanghai in May 2010, my Chinese had improved considerably. I visited the man daily and got more and more familiar with him and his family. I moved to Xian to continue searching for antique swords. I was about to give up hope when one day I received a phone call from the seller in Shanghai. He was in need of money and accepted my last offer. I could not believe it! Immediately I went to the bank and transferred the money to him. To avoid problems with customs at the airport I asked him to send the sword to my home by mail. Several days later my relatives received the package. I finally got it!
When I got back to my country and was able to hold the sword in my hands I was very happy. I thought about how to restore it. It had a lot of rust on the blade and the handle and tsuba did not fit tightly. The blade moved into the scabbard and the cord of the handle, brass pieces and scabbard were dirty and dull.
I considered restoring it by myself, it was necessary to polish the blade and fit all the parts. I knew it would be difficult but I felt I could do it and after I would be even prouder of my sword.
I started to polish the blade by using sand paper. I removed much of the rust, but the temple lines appeared unclear. I realised this was a difficult job and asked in forums who is the best antique sword restorer. There were no doubts: Philip Tom, so I contacted him immediately.
I was not sure about keeping the current scabbard as well as the handle if they differ so much from the original style. I also considered adding a beautiful piece that I saw some daos have at the beginning of the blade, just beside the handle.
I showed some photos of my dao to Mr Tom. I agreed to send the sword to him and after a closer inspection he could advise me the best course of action. After receiving the sword and inspecting it, this is what he said:
“Your piece is a peidao (saber) with a willow-leaf style blade which probably dates from the turn of the 19th cent. The straight handle is a remainder from the previous centuries, as the 19th cent. advanced, most saber handles became slightly curved. The metal fittings are not old, as are the handle and scabbard, but the shape and the style of decoration are very close to historical norms. Whoever made these did a good job of copying antique styles”.
“Your scabbard has a beautiful brown lacquer finish, which is seen on many antique swords (the Japanese preferred black). Few artisans do that shade of brown today, so it’s rare to find an example (…) I do not suggest entirely refinishing the scabbard because an antique always show signs of wear and you don’t want it looking too new”.
(…) “The blade is of very high quality (…) the edge is well-tempered and there is a beautiful damascus pattern to the steel. Because of the hardness of the steel it will take a few days to complete the polishing. Almost all of the rust that is on it now will disappear (…) The edge has been dulled by careless cleaning, so it needs to be entirely resharpened”.
(…) “Your blade never did have the ornate metal sleeve (tunkou) at the base. Some sabers were made with these, others not. The blade has to be especially shaped in order to take this part. There are areas that need to be cut away at the base so that the tunkou fits on perfectly. I do not advise doing this to your blade since it is obvious that it was never made with this to begin with. You don’t want to modify an old blade in such a way”.
I decided to keep all parts, clean and fit them tightly, polish and re-sharpen the blade, and of course not to add a tunkou. Several days later I got a new email from Mr. Tom saying the work was finished, and for good measure he attached these photos:
I was amazed. The damascus pattern is clearly visible and all the parts look beautiful and bright, yet it still looks like an old sword. Incredible!
In short, this is my first antique sword, and although it is a composite piece, owning such a historic and beautiful blade is very exciting. The story of how I finally got the sword is interesting too. I think often how much I had to fight to make it mine, how much mandarin I learnt, how many people and interesting things I learned over those three trips, the risky route China-Spain-USA-Spain by post and the experience of contacting Philip Tom for the restoration. All of these things make me love this sword, far more than if I had just bought any sword from a collector. It was a difficult experience but one that I would recommend.
