Hello Bill,
Quote:
Should I go hang it on a nail? 
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Better use a screw with one of those weird heads - that will help more than the lion to keep it in place...
I'm not sure what would be the best approach to reveal the missing digit which is hidden below the forge weld. There are ways to examine wether a steel has hidden flaws and some of these should also work for this task. (I'm assuming that remnants of that digit are still present since the welding seems to be less than perfect which should make this fairly easy in the hands of an expert.)
BTW, the most likely date is 1746. It also could be 1646 but that would be pretty early, indeed. (In the 18th century there were a lot more VOC blades in circulation than in the 17th c.)
I also like those Batak blades - keep them coming!
Regards,
Kai