I think it is a great example of its type albeit well used. One has to remember that the ending price did not include your bid. One does not know how high the winning bidder was willing to go. It may well have reached your estimations had you bid against the high bidder. One would expect the exterior to wear more heavily than the blade over a long period of time. It is a bit unusual to have so much gold work on the blade and not so much wear despite the blade having some edge nicks and surface scratching. It might mean the gold work has been renewed at some point in its life. It could also mean that the original work was done particularly well. I cannot tell from the pics, but the gold work might be inlay versus koftgari and I would think good inlay work would hold the test of time much better. Even if it has been renewed, I do not think it has been done recently.
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