Gold engraved kinjal from ebay??

[erlikhan]

3764912314.
this auction ended yesterday and i simply forgot to log in and bid although i was planning to bid upto 1500s. it seemed like a gorgeous beauty from the pictures when i first saw it:(
what surprized me later, is that the price didn't go high enough compared to my estimations. When i examined the pictures and read the description later, i felt something can be wrong. Do you think are the gold engravings original?? the seller says that the scabbard is warn and loose, slides down. The leather is warn, the silver mountings are warn, niellos, paintings gone partially. There are nicks on the blade. It is clear that this item hasnt been kept wrapped in silks in a chest since its birth. It has been well carried and used. How the gold engravings on the blade stay so fresh, complete, unwarn? No break or corrosion at all, at least i cant find when i examine the pictures. What do you guys think?

[RSWORD]

I think it is a great example of its type albeit well used. One has to remember that the ending price did not include your bid. One does not know how high the winning bidder was willing to go. It may well have reached your estimations had you bid against the high bidder. One would expect the exterior to wear more heavily than the blade over a long period of time. It is a bit unusual to have so much gold work on the blade and not so much wear despite the blade having some edge nicks and surface scratching. It might mean the gold work has been renewed at some point in its life. It could also mean that the original work was done particularly well. I cannot tell from the pics, but the gold work might be inlay versus koftgari and I would think good inlay work would hold the test of time much better. Even if it has been renewed, I do not think it has been done recently.