Lacquered Nguyễn Guom saber

With the colonizing by the French in 1802, the European influence on Vietnamese weapons began. The typical D-shaped guards and lion head pommels were slowly introduced during the beginning of the 19th century ending up in a mixture of French influence, but with eastetic pleasing Asian features such as silver and mother of pearl inlays and the use of precious sorts of wood and metal.

The hilt:
In typical European shape with a copper D-guard as seen on the French military sabers. The back of the hilt is made of solid silver and the wooden hilt is covered with engraved copper. The guard is also made of copper with a sophisticated silver inlay of hexagonal form.

The blade:
Curved and single edged. The blade is rather thin, but seems fit for functional use. The blade has a single fuller on both sides, just underneath the flat spine, running down almost the entire blade where is fades towards the tip. The blade is also in European style and made of spingy steel.

The scabbard:
In European tradition, yet executed in Vietnamese style. The scabbard is made of leather with silver fittings. The leather is lacquered in a fine patinated red lacquer and was decorated with gold accents and shows two cartouches with Chinese characters which seems to indicate ‘養銳 ? 光處’, which seems to translate as powerful words such as accomplishment, sharp and honour. Presumably an auspicious meaning ment for the owner.