Thanks Alex for yours thoughts, The blade is heavily scrached which I think hides much of the pattern in the photos which seems quite swirly to me in hand reflected in sunlight? But Time will tell.
Havent found my 16X loupe yet, not where I thought it was.
But in the meantime herse a little cleanup around what I presumed is the top of a cartouche.
The crazed area in front of that looks like reforging to me or is perhaps just overheating ? But together whith the remains of a cartouche I still think reforging is likley.
As for a smiths reasons why its conjecture, but forging is always better than stock removal for quality of structure, & often speeds up the process as well I would say from seeing how fast a kukri is forged out of a rough billet in Nepal.
Pity the gurade wasnt yours, I think its its the nicest one Ive ever seen!
Spiral