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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
This intriguing axe shown by Colin has had me struggling for days through notes etc. as this curious motif is so familiar, yet as I found, so elusive.
There are interesting clues however in the entry with similar (perhaps exact) item shown in the vague Christies description.
While the term battle axe is used (another term about as useful as descriptions using northern, southern etc without qualification) it seems the implication is that this is an Indian 'tabar', which it is not.
The Tabar was a larger and heavier axe, a much more conservative blade (not 'lunar' as cleverly noted for 'crescent') and a blunt poll at the back of the head. It was its smaller cousin, the tabarzin, which was a saddle axe of same shape only smaller.
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Depending on the source "tabar" simply means "axe", Egerton in "Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour" uses tabar to describe crescent, hoe, triangular, long curved, forked and short curved axe heads.