Indian Moghul Blade?

[drac2k]

I recently acquired this dagger and it poses some questions for me.
First, the heavy 10" blade with a swollen armor piercing tip and relief work has some type of strange forging pattern; it does not appear to be chemically etched as it is multi-dimensional.Next, the blade seems to be incorrectly set into the handle, however, the bonding material appears to be old and organic, so I was wondering if perhaps the bottom edge had been broken by some type of trauma.The handle is worn but has traces of silver scrolling.
I have never valued metal handled weapons, as I viewed them just above tourist grade, however, this appears to be a decent blade, and if confirmed, I may want to get it professionally fixed as opposed to me attempting a repair.

[Bob A]

A few observations, from one with little background:

The blade seems somewhat on the crude side to me. For all its design elements, the execution is not nearly so sharp as I'm used to seeing on blades with that level of ornament. Also, the ornament does not have the "carved" look that is typical of the ones I'm familiar with.

Steel handles on daggers seem more often to be a Persian thing to me, to the point that I was looking for some animal figures on the blade. The koftgari does seem to have suffered from use, though it's hard to tell on my screen.

The side clips of the hilt also seem odd to my eye. Seen on swords, but in my admittedly limited experience I don't recall seeing that sort of thing on short arms.

Not very helpful I suppose. Take it for what it may be worth.

[drac2k]

All of your observations seem valid to me, Thanks.

[Rick]

I think it's a married piece.

The pattern does appear to me to be etched; the blade is too thin where it joins the handle.
Workmanship on the blade is too crude or hurried in execution as Bob has mentioned.

[drac2k]

That would certainly explain the misalignment; I previously hadn't thought that it had been chemically etched because it was fairly deep and it had a strange pattern.Thank you for your insights.

[mariusgmioc]

My estimate is 19th century fake wootz blade. Definitely not Mughal.

Happy new year!

Marius

[drac2k]

Do you think it is Persian as well and do you believe it to be as old as 19th century or more modern? Thanks