Two zaghnal for comments
 

Good evening dear members ( or good morning !)

Here are two large zaghnal axes I have.

The less rusty was given to me by a really good friend years ago,
I have bought the second one with the pike recently for a correct-not really expensive price.

I found old post saying rhe ''rusty'' one is just a composite item of late 19th century
Sure it's not well balanced at all !
Too heavy on the front
But the xxl large crow beek point can perfore any kind of armor; I think /for me this part is not just a deco piece...
Globally alll pieces are massive just the pike end seems deco / useless.
All rusty patina with ''basic'' koftgari under the rust,
I hesitate to clean it or leave it lile that.

For the ''nicer one'' , I thought it was from end of 18th/early 19th but I found informations dating thèse type too at end of 19th century...

The koftgari work is well done and all parts seems of ''higher" quality,
The blade seems blued in many parts,
I can not say if it's blued steel or painted so I hesitate to sand/ etch it ?

What do you think ?
Glad to hear tour comments
Kind regards

The massive ''rusty one''

Hello francantolin

Congrats on the very cute zaghnal axes. As far as I know, these samples were made in the late 19th - early 20th century specifically for Europeans visiting India. They were made on purpose somewhat hypertrophied in comparison with battle samples zaghnal axes made in the late 18th - early 19th century. This was due to the fact that they were not used as weapons, but served to decorate oriental rooms, which were fashionable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I can't disagree w Mahratt about the age, but from looking at the koftgari on the one with the Elephant and Tigers I notice that cross hatching done to the areas on the blade for a surface to apply the design is very neatly done with care.
The newer stuff shows this cross hatching extending beyond (visible outside the koftgari)and IMO detracts from the artisanship of those new pieces. A lot of the stuff coming out of Indian shops today shows this sloppiness. It's a shame.

Hello,
Thank you for the comments,
here other pictures of the ''nice one''
showing the koftgari quality and precision as said before

A deco weapon but
not the first tourist bazar shop item
we could take back home for a few penny that sadly india has produced later ...

I hope ( but don't think so ) I can get the same result
electrolysing the rusty one, seems good but of lower quality..

The pictures....

Parade use only. Look at the blade tang, nothing there to resist a decent impact blow.
Mine is a bit more like a weapon:(I cleaned off the red rust & oiled it on arrival).