Indian Tulwar with markings
 

Hello

This is my second post and I have an Indian Tulwar to seek advice on.The hilt has remnant gold koftgari. It has three marks on one side of the blade and I have seen this mark and fullering on an Indian Kirach from the 18th century. The three fullers run most of the 82cm blade. The spine thins to the blade edge thickness for the last 25cms. The langet style seems also early. Blade seems to have some amateur cleaning that is evident in hand unfortunately with scratches from a wire brush. It was sold as 19th C but I though it was earlier.

All thoughts welcome.

This blade does seem European, probably Solingen of 18th century trade blade type of latter 18th into 19th. ..the absence of ricasso is a good indicator it is indeed not Indian.
The markings on the blade are entirely spurious Indian interpretations of combined types often seen on German blades using the dots of the 'sickle marks' and supposedly man in the moon figures. They are placed in the wrong configuration and tripled, contrary to normal European applications.

The hilt is quite possibly early 19th c. and of the open style (no knuckleguard) found through Rajasthan (the peaked grip center) and into northern India regions, but its very hard to assign to specific area.

Nice solid tulwar, and probably early 19th c as best as can be told through photos.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your comments and yes someone else said likely Indian interpretive markings. Tulwar are new to me with this being only the second one I have had in hand. Bit of a leap of faith buying it but though it would teach me something.

I had no idea of the huge trade in German and other blades into the sub continent from Europe so many centuries ago.

Look forward to others comments.

A lot of blades were imported from countries like Spain, Portugal, Germany, England, Venice and other countries.
To this comes that the Indian's copied a lot of blades, and they did it so well that Bernier wrote that the copies were very well done, and could easily be taken for European blades.
The markings are, like Jim wrote, pure Indian, but when it comes to the blade it could be a copy, it is hard to say from the pictures. If it is a copy the weapon smith would not have made a ricasso - or it would have looked like a copy of an European blade.

Thanks Jens

So as a general rule the Indian made blades had a ricasso?

Yes, as a rule many Indian blades used European style blades as prototypes but in India, they preferred having a ricasso (that is a blunt segment of the edge nearest the hilt). This is typically for sabre blades on tulwars. As Jens has noted, it is hard to say if Indian copy from photos as the weight, fuller character, etc. are all factors in assessing if a blade is European trade or Indian made. Indian makers were often underestimated in their skills.