Jim, thank you very much for your very informative reply which because of the clear way you put things has cleared a lot of the confusion I had in my mind from the hours spent trying to discover the identity of this sword, your knowledge never ceases to amaze me, brilliant. I look forward to the books you mention which, hopefully, will clarify more accurately the origins and design of these Tulwar hilt types as from reading the past threads it seemed to crop up fairly regularly, I also hope that they will be out for Christmas so that I can get a present I really want
Thanks, Ibrahiim for your pointer to the Wallace collection, I have seen it and can highly recommend it for both Indian and European weapons.
Regards
Miguel