Hi Brian,
The computer is your friend, until it starts a life of its own. When it does, don’t shout at it, and don’t kick it – you should speak nicely and comforting to it, to make it at ease – like ‘don’t worry you will get a biscuit when I have finished’ – works wonders with the dogs, so why not try it with the computer?
It is hard to say if it decorated at another date, my knowledge about enamel is too fundamental to be able to tell. I would, however not think so. I think the decoration on the hilt and disc must have been made at the same time. When did you ever see a hilt and the top of the disc decorated – with a blank underside of the disc, ready to be decorated? Had they done it like that, there must be a few hilts still not decorated at the underside.
The two names are a puzzle, and it could be, that V. J. decorated the hilt and the top of the disc, whilst Nathdwara decorated the underside. This is a possibility, as I don’t think the same man did both decorations – although you can never know, as some artists can draw/decorate in different styles – but the decorations are very different, besides from the colours. Another possibility could be that one of the names is of the one who made the cutting in the silver and the other name of the one who made the enamel – only this would mean, that the same man made all the decorations. I have a feeling that the good Indian artists could decorate in many different ways – but I have yet to prove it.
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