Help on finding out about a sword

Question

After my mother passed away, I found this sword. I'm trying to get any information on it. It's one-piece, and appears to be brass under all the erosion but I could be wrong about the metal. I think it's oriental but have no basis for thinking that. It's about 19 1/8" long, and a bit past 1 1/2' wide. There are faded markings and some striations on the hilt. I have photos of it but they're too large to upload. I'd be happy to send them to someone. I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks!

I'd thought about cleaning the sword but decided against it. I played with different photo options and was able to get a good close-up:

This is my first time on this web site, so please excuse my confusion and frustration on how to go about dealing with protocol. My sincere apologies.

In WWII, my dad was stationed in Guam. I'm assuming that is how the sword came into his possession. While I like watching archaeological programs on TV, they aren't very educational. I know next to nothing about swords.

If possible, I would like to sell the sword.

@kimchi Thanks, that's was a great idea. Unfortunately, the letters are either too faded or too shallow as it didn't work.

@dROOOze I hope this helps.

@dROOOze Thank you so much for all you've done. It took awhile before I understood what you were saying.

As I closely looked at the photo you very graciously provided, I noticed a couple of differences.

• It looks like the "X" has at the bottom a small "" on the left, and a small " /" on the right. I don't know if that changes the translation.
• This one is minor so probably doesn't change anything. The second to last symbol/word on the left side, it flares out more on the left side than the example. Suspect it's a matter of style for the writer but thought I'd mention it.

Would cleaning it help? If so, what do you suggest I use?

Again, I am very grateful for all of your efforts on my behalf.

Answer 1

There is a recent reddit post about a sword like this, thought it might help you. https://www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/comments/hl0yjn/found_in_south_africa_does_anyone_know_what_this/

Answer 2

Although the provided image is a bit unclear, I believe that the inscription is the same as on another image which I gave a quick-and-dirty translation on /r/translator a while back. Here is the inscription in the question (left) and the one I saw before (right), side-by-side:

隹（唯）周父王亖（四）秂（年）𠄡（五）月𠆦（作）豆𤰃（用）亯（享）于宗室

The characters mostly have shapes adhering to bronze inscriptions. The rough translation is

The dòu (豆, round-bottomed bronze vessel) was cast (作) by the Father (父王) of the King of Zhou (周王) on the fifth month (五月) of the fourth year (四年) for (用) recreation (享) at (于) the ancestral temple (宗室)

Personally, I thought there were some problems with the character shapes and the language used in this inscription, which made me doubt its authenticity.

• This is a sword, not a round-bottomed bronze vessel. (The character in your image corresponding to 豆 on the right is illegible though)
• As far as I know, 「周父王」 ("Father of the King of Zhou") is not a phrase that shows up in authentic inscriptions
• The character 「父」 does not look like that in bronze inscriptions
• Bronze inscriptions are normally meticulously recorded for paleography study. There is no record, as far as I can find, of an inscription with the text

  隹周父王亖秂𠄡月𠆦豆𤰃亯于宗室

There is an item with this inscription which appears on a Taiwan auction bidding site. I can't gauge its authenticity, but there is a long and supposedly historical background of the object given at the bottom of the auction page, relying on an erroneous transcription of 「豆」 as 「亶」.