SWORD! Help. Looks very old! What language is it & when the heck its from!

IMF2020

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Its even possible the sword was Roman might sound crazy but its a fact a chinese trader buried a large Roman gold coin treasure about 1000 years ago not far from this famous battle area ...I seen many object found from china and the India traders were here before the Spanish ....500 years ago this place was close to being in the stone age so believe what you want on the debate of where Lapu lapu sword came from ....Type will always be unknow
 

IMF2020

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Scorpio queen 6 after giving your sword more thought .....And if i remember right Turkey once ruled over Libya ...After WW2 lots of war trophies came back from the deserts of North Africa ....Do some research am just guessing the most possible routes to New Jersey
 

IMF2020

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Arabic has been used for 600 years by the Moro and is the main language in North Africa and the middle east ...So Turkey , Libya , Philippines and 22 other countries use it ..Look online and compare it ....Remember i know very little on this subject and am only trying to give you ideas and remember anything is possible with war trophies ...I have a talk with my friend at the Museum about your sword maybe he has some ideas ...Here in the Philippines the Katana is the war trophy ...Lapu lapu sword in Spain i bet i was joking earlier sorry for that ..Good luck ...
 

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Scorpio_queen6

Scorpio_queen6

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So I had my friend translate it and it says " I hope this sword never falls from my hand" and "I'm Coming". She said it is Ottoman Turkish in Arabic script.
 

IMF2020

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Thats great ...Do you have any idea on the age of the sword ? The Ottoman empire ruled Libya 1551-1912 during this time period lots of turks moved there ...I don't think the owners family would put that in the trash ... But i have seen many war trophies put in the trash after family members find them years later ...Lots of WW2 trophies have been put to the trash in the last 20 years by grand children ....I once found WW1 trophies in a attic the family had no idea how they got there in New Jersey there grand father had to been in france during the war ....remember anything possible with traders and war and am only guessing a possible route
 

EQ8

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Looks like a jihadi head chopper to me.
 

IMF2020

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And your sword is a Hog chopper ...weapon of choice ....I hope your sword never falls from your hands and safe travelling
 

Ozona Dowser

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Hello, Scorpio,
This unique blade has a mid-eastern flare and I believe the inscriptions on the blade face are Arabic. You could take it to an antique dealer, museum, or a university in your area for possible help.
Ozona Dowser
 

hound

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Hello, Scorpio,
This unique blade has a mid-eastern flare and I believe the inscriptions on the blade face are Arabic. You could take it to an antique dealer, museum, or a university in your area for possible help.
Ozona Dowser

You didn't read the thread. The sword has already been identified as an Ottoman Turkish Yatagan, and already been translated. There's a good deal of speculation on extraneous things such as how it ended up in the US of which there are countless ways other than a Pacific Theatre war trophy.
 

IMF2020

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Like 10x as many troops came back from North Africa Theatre ....then the Moro Theatre ....But we will never know how it got to a trash can in New Jersey ...Next war trophy i find will go in the trash like all the others
 

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IMF2020

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I grew up in a house full of civil war trophies .....my family donated 3 members to WW2... 2 were from New Jersey one never made it back ...out of the 9 family members that fought in wars the trophies could fill a large room ...Some of the trophies from the Philippine American War were trees which my family planted in Northern New Jersey ,....The population of New Jersey from arabic speaking countries was less then 1% in 1980 ....well over 10% of the population of New Jersey fought in WW2 over 500,000 ...But its very possible that some tourist bought a sword home from the middle east ...
 

FloodcityTom

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Never realized that Lapu Lapu was an actual place.

Long ago I used to live near a restaurant called Tips, and they
had a bartender there who's uncle (or brother..it was loonngg
ago), Bobby Batugo, invented the drink known as the "Lapu Lapu".

It was a blend of three different rum's and a few other goodies,
and went down as smooth as could be. I drank two of them one night
(house limit) View attachment 1866235 , and was hung over for the next three days.. View attachment 1866236

Lapu Lapu is indeed a city or a "barangay" in the Island of Mactan at Cebu where the great Cheif supposedly had his head quarters. There is a tremendous statue near a market place of Lapu Lapu holding a curved simitar. It is debatable if Lapu Lapu had a sword at all . The Spanish don;t mention it, Magellan was killed by sharpened wooden spears which may have been poisoned. Now I've leared somethig, all the time I spent in the Philippines I NEVER heard of a drink called a "Lapu Lapu" LOL....Lapu Lapu is a fish, BTW....a red grouper
 

IMF2020

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Today i spent 6 hours with the owner and historian of a local Museum ...I looked at 10 swords from this time period and we talked on the subject of Lapu Lapu ... First thing he pointed out was the battle wasn't on the island of Lapu Lapu which i knew ...Second thing he pointed out the man was 7 foot tall and had no tattoos like his 1500 men ...He told me a posion arrow killed Magellan ...I told him i guess the eyewitness was 500 meters away he agreed at the distance and told me the water not deep around that island where the battle took place ..He also pointed out he wasn't from this area of the Philippines ...He show me the native sword which is very large am 6 foot tall and in my hands it was the right size ...He told me the Moro used swords from Indonesia which he shown me 8 swords ...After looking at all his swords i noticed something straight to very small curve is common ... Then i asked what type he thought Lapu Lapu had ...He told me he thought Lapu Lapu killed someone and took it so his guess was native sword ....I told him all the statues I seen show a large curved sword ...I asked is it possible he took it from a India trader he said anything possible .. The Moro were like pirates so war was there game ...I don't know what size sword a 7 foot guy would need but if his height size is correct it was not made here in the Philippines ...
 

IMF2020

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FloodcityTom ...Lapu Lapu battle was on one of the 4 islands east of cebu they are called the camotes Islands ...which one who knows for sure ...so if they are bais on the place its possible they are bais on the Statues ....the statue sword you seen was not the same as the sword i had in my hands today and the one in Rizal park is straight type if i remember right ....I hope u enjoyed your state here
 

FloodcityTom

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FloodcityTom ...Lapu Lapu battle was on one of the 4 islands east of cebu they are called the camotes Islands ...which one who knows for sure ...so if they are bais on the place its possible they are bais on the Statues ....the statue sword you seen was not the same as the sword i had in my hands today and the one in Rizal park is straight type if i remember right ....I hope u enjoyed your state here

My interest in swords and Lapu Lapu are rooted in my study of Arnis kali...Lapunti Aris de Abanico in Cebu area and Arnis De Duelo in Davao. We used the 'Lambitan' and 'Kampilan'. If you look at the style of blade on the sword in this thread it resembles the Southern Filipino "Lambitan", very popular among the Bangsamoro, perhaps more so than the "Kris". But the HANDLE is not Filipino, despite the style of decoration with abalone shell. Most of what I know of Lapu Lapu comes from knowledge passed down by Filipino Maestro from generation to generation. The Great Chief was supposedly a practitioner of Arnis/Kali styles still practised around Cebu. :icon_thumright: Swords and weapons of steel were usually acquired thru trade, trade with China, Thailand and Malaysia, sea coast and island dwelling tribes so it is possible that is how Lapu Lapu got his weapon. Also a bit of trivia, the Shoulder patch on the Phil national police features Lapu Lapu holding shield and sword...as he was the FIRST enforcer of Filipino law!!!!!!!
 

IMF2020

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After trying a Kampilan there was no Lambitan where i was yesterday ...The sword i tried was approx 40" long ..remembering back to my talk with Patrick Ewing would a guy that size need a sword say 48" long to be correct for his height ???? I also noticed all the swords i looked at had no writing on them... The historain told me pinoys got there steel from china and i seen coal in cebu near Oslob but i don't think 500 years ago they knew it was there it was at a strip mine for coal used in bohol ...Negros and cebu the coal is of a very bad grade not like coal in the USA ..What i realize now anything possible .. maybe its all lies for the king of Spain and like you said he didn't have a sword ...he could of had a 10 foot lance from Indonesia ...We will never know
 

IMF2020

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At this museum the owner once showed me british hand gernades i joked with him what are they treasure markers from singapore he asked how did i know that ...I told him if the japanese took the gold , the ballast blocks , why not take the weapons that were left behind ..the point to the story is you use your enemies weapon if you have no weapon of your own ....
 

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Scorpio_queen6

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Still no idea of the age of the sword.
Thats great ...Do you have any idea on the age of the sword ? The Ottoman empire ruled Libya 1551-1912 during this time period lots of turks moved there ...I don't think the owners family would put that in the trash ... But i have seen many war trophies put in the trash after family members find them years later ...Lots of WW2 trophies have been put to the trash in the last 20 years by grand children ....I once found WW1 trophies in a attic the family had no idea how they got there in New Jersey there grand father had to been in france during the war ....remember anything possible with traders and war and am only guessing a possible route
 

IMF2020

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It could be very old like up to 500 years but i have no idea ...I can't picture someone bring that to Ellis Island ....Good luck
 

IMF2020

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Floodcity Tom after doing some more research i found that one site said he was the same height as me 6'1"..This site stated that he defeated Bornean soldiers and pirates at the age of 20 which is 10 years earlier then the battle in the Philippines ...So probably he had a Indonesia sword ...If he had tattoos is in question who knows ...I don't believe nothing anyone says here as fact ...thanks for the info you posted it gave me some ideas ..I believe what you said and Lapu Lapu was a pirate and knew how to use a sword true warrior
 

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