This is a pair of South Vietnamese Army officers ceremonial swords from the Vietnam war era. The swords are identical, and were brought home by a veteran of that war. The swords are identical and measure 32 1/2" overall, with 27 1/4" blades. The blades are made of steel, while the guards and ferrules are made of aluminum. The guards and blades were chrome plated at one time, but most of the plating is missing from the guards. Each blade has a nick in it, shaped exactly the same. It looks as though they have been used to strike a small square shaped object, but who knows what that was. There is a small amount of surface rust on each blade where the chrome plating has flaked off. One of the blades has an old hand written note taped to it that reads "Ceremonial Officer Sword/Vietnam Regular Army". Both of the wooden grips has age cracks, one runs from the forward ferrule all the way down the side to the rear ferrule. The other has a small crack on the side and little bigger one on the bottom side that goes from the rear ferrule about half way down the grip. I have been unable to find examples like these being used by South Vietnamese officers during the war. I suspect these may be street vendor made and sold to the soldiers as souvenirs. But if you have a Vietnam collection these will pretty cool in it.

Item # AA3001