Thanks Ken! I guess I have always been adamant on preservation of patina on these old weapons (its the historian in me). In my thinking the patina is a well earned coat of history, rather like the rings in a tree trunk, and worn proudly by these venerable old warriors. Sorry, off on a tangent there
thought I was writing a romance novel .
Understand on the blade, which is amazing. I would defer to the experts, but while the Assad Allah cartouche suggests a Persian trade blade, this clearly has remarkable watering, and it seems unusual for a 'trade' blade to have all that 'activity' on the spine. This might well be a more important blade than expected. If I may suggest getting hold of Philip Tom who typically writes on ethnographic, but is the true master of restoring blades.
All the best
Jim