Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
- Messages
- 37,909
This morning I had a person call me about an old sword they found in a relatives garage. They said that they suspected it was very old, because the person who had lived there was 85 when he died last year, and the sword had rust on it. They sent the sword over for me to "appraise", and to see if I could clean it and get a sheath for it.
Before I had unrolled the towel, I could tell it was a modern, unhardened, very poorly made Pakistan copy of a jan. The blade was stamped "Pakistan". The wood was something like monkey wood and the blade was horrible ( probably 1018). The poorly made delta shape guard was brass. Probably sold for $29.95 on the sword network.
I typed this appraisal for him:
Lucky Find!
This is a rather rare sword. It is called a pakandu, and is only used by the royal guards at the palace in Rawalpindi. They are seven foot tall soldiers who protect the monarchy in Pakistan. The swords are supposedly made by Buddhist monks from meteorite fragments collected in the Himalayas. They chant a prayer repeatedly while forging the sword to give it the ability to make the bearer invincible. When a man is made a royal guard, he retreats to a monastery where he fasts and prays for 28 days. At the end of his fast, if he is deemed pure by the monks, they present him with his sword. He picks it up and never sets it down until he dies. I doubt that is really true, but it is a great story.
The handle is made from "yak-wood", which interestingly is also used as heating and cooking fuel by the monks in that part of the world. The guard is probably pure gold. There is no sheath, as the sword is supposed to always be in the guard's hand. The rust may actually be from blood stains.
I have never seen one come up at an auction, so assigning a value is hard. One guy might say $1000, and another might say $1. I would be willing to trade an uncirculated 2014 US $5 Federal Reserve bank note for it.......actually, I would rather hang on to my bank note.
Before I had unrolled the towel, I could tell it was a modern, unhardened, very poorly made Pakistan copy of a jan. The blade was stamped "Pakistan". The wood was something like monkey wood and the blade was horrible ( probably 1018). The poorly made delta shape guard was brass. Probably sold for $29.95 on the sword network.
I typed this appraisal for him:
Lucky Find!
This is a rather rare sword. It is called a pakandu, and is only used by the royal guards at the palace in Rawalpindi. They are seven foot tall soldiers who protect the monarchy in Pakistan. The swords are supposedly made by Buddhist monks from meteorite fragments collected in the Himalayas. They chant a prayer repeatedly while forging the sword to give it the ability to make the bearer invincible. When a man is made a royal guard, he retreats to a monastery where he fasts and prays for 28 days. At the end of his fast, if he is deemed pure by the monks, they present him with his sword. He picks it up and never sets it down until he dies. I doubt that is really true, but it is a great story.
The handle is made from "yak-wood", which interestingly is also used as heating and cooking fuel by the monks in that part of the world. The guard is probably pure gold. There is no sheath, as the sword is supposed to always be in the guard's hand. The rust may actually be from blood stains.
I have never seen one come up at an auction, so assigning a value is hard. One guy might say $1000, and another might say $1. I would be willing to trade an uncirculated 2014 US $5 Federal Reserve bank note for it.......actually, I would rather hang on to my bank note.
The yak part is probably true, but I'm having doubts about the "wood" part 
