Tom,
Here's a scenario: take a khanda (or similar single-edged blade). Get the blade broken near the base (presumably in a fight). Have someone (possibly a whitesmith rather than a blacksmith) decide to rehilt the broken blade, since it's still pretty useful.
What do you have? A wide, single edged, sharp blade, with no tang. How do you secure it? Cast a brass handle around the fragment, with a big yelmen to secure the blade in the absence of a tang.
Now, about the decoration: either someone has commissioned this salvage operation, or the smith wanted to make something that looked good for resale or whatever.
The reason I'm assuming that a whitesmith (who doesn't work with iron) would do this is because a blacksmith would have reshaped the bottom of the blade. That huge yelmen to me looks like a way of holding the blade in the absence of a good tang. If one has the tools, building a tang would be a safer (and lighter) way of doing it. Alternatively, someone may have been sentimental about the original blade, and wanted to save the entire fragment, leaving the smith with the challenge of making a new hilt around the fragment.
Comments? This is a scenario, but it seems to explain some of the weird construction. If that handle is solid brass, that sword must weigh a metaphorical ton.
Fearn
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