Introduction

Húdiédāo (蝴蝶刀), are a type of double swords that seem to have originated in or around the port cities of southern China. The local Cantonese name is wu dip dou. They are also known in Cantonese as bat jam do (八斬刀) or "eight cutting knives", pronounced bāzhǎndāo in Mandarin.

Their defining feature is a large D-shaped guard with an upturned quillon at the back, usually of a copper alloy but sometimes made of iron. They typically have half-hilts that fit in a single scabbard side-by-side and can be drawn as if they were one weapon.

For more, see my glossary article: Húdiédāo (蝴蝶刀)

This set

The blades are wide and heavy, and with less taper in width than normally seen on antiques.

The hilts have heavy D shaped knuckleguards and prong at the back. Unusual is the straight profile and rectangular cross section of the grips, normally a bulging grip is seen, similar to that of the Chinese straightsword, jiàn. The grips are wrapped with cord.

The knuckle bows are nicely detailed with ridges and facets, and the thick tangs are nicely peened over in a faceted way as well. 

Both blades were over cleaned by a previous owner. I would recommend a new owner to have them professionally polished and etched. This creates a better finish and might reveal details of its forged construction.

It comes complete with a brown pigskin scabbard.