[Jens Nordlunde]

Sirupate,
Thank you very much for your quotes - they are very interesting.
They are very interesting, and shows that even quite late in history the Indian blades could fully compare to the European blades.
Quite early the English writers started to tell that the Indian blades could not compare to the European blades, and it may have been so in some cases, but far from in all cases.
European marks were used a lot on Indian weapons, but this does not mean that the Indian blades were of a lesser quality.
I too have a number of Indian blades with European markings, but as far as I can judge of a very high quality.

Jim, You have seen pictures of some of my swords, and know that they have European markings, although they are TrueIndian, and of a very high quality as well.
I think good and bad quality of blades were made in most countries. Many exporting countries saw no reason why they should export high quality blades, when other blades sold, till they did not sell any more, so I find it wrong to say, that the European blades were of a higher quality than the Indian ones. True that the metal scabbards did not help the Euorpeans.
Jens