Genuine antique Chinese sword Jian, used in many battles, Qing dynasty, 1600-1750 AD Wow, this sword carries many battle scars on the blade edges! It obviously belonged to a great, fierce and aggressive warier. The blade has a dozen of 2-4 mm scars and another dozen of 1 mm scars. The blade is covered with old strongly attached patina. Total sword length: 22.75 inches = 57.5 cm; Blade length: 16.5 inches = 42.5 cm; Total weight: 1 lb. 1.6 oz. = 501 g; Old original carved wooden handle Pommel and guard: original ornate bronze; Blade: sharp damask steel, attracted to the magnet; This Jian features bronze etched mounts and pommels, complemented by a ridged wooden grip. Notably, the grip includes a hole, a common feature in Qing era swords, which could be used for attaching a tassel. In historical contexts, these tassels could serve various purposes, such as acting as lanyards to secure the sword in combat. Some sword forms incorporated the tassel into their techniques, sometimes as an offensive tool. Some even claimed that tassels were embedded with metal wires or thin silk cords to impair vision and cause bleeding when used aggressively. In modern times, the tassel primarily serves a decorative function, and this particular Jian does not include one. In Chinese folklore, it is known as "The Gentleman of Weapons" and is considered one of the four major weapons, along with the gun (staff), qiang (spear), and the dao (saber). These swords are also sometimes referred to as taijijian or "tai chi swords", reflecting their current use as training weapons for taijiquan practitioners, though there were no historical jian types created specifically for taijiquan. A guard or hilt protects the hand from an opposing blade. Guard shapes varied, but often had short wings or lobes pointing either forward or backward, the latter sometimes having an "ace of spades" appearance. This one appears as short wings pointing towards the pommel. Early jian often had very small, simple guards. From the Song and Ming periods onward guards could feature zoomorphic shapes, or have crossbars and quillons. A minority of jian featured the disc-shaped guards associated with dao. The guard is unfortunately loose and has a lot of movement present. Provenance: private collection in Florida REFERENCE: Historically, Chinese swords are classified into two types, the jian and the dao. A Jian is a straight, double-edged sword mainly used for stabbing; the term has been commonly translated into the English language as a longsword. Meanwhile, a dao is a single-edged sword (mostly curved from the Song dynasty forward) mainly used for cutting, and the term has been translated as a saber or a "knife". Bronze jians appeared during the Western Zhou period and switched to the more durable wrought iron and steel during the late Warring States period. In modern times, the ceremonial commissioned officer's sword of the Chinese navy has been patterned after the traditional jian since 2008.[1] Besides specialty weapons like the butterfly dao, Chinese swords are usually 70–110 cm (28–43 in) in length. However, longer swords have been found on occasion.[2] Outside of Ancient China, Chinese swords were also used in Ancient Japan from the 3rd to the 6th century AD, but they were succeeded by native Japanese swords by the middle Heian era.[3] END