Welcome back, Roland!
Your contributions are much appreciated - I wish more of the SE Asian collectors here would delve into looking into the bladesmithing and material details, too! While most wootz blades found in SEA are from obviously imported blades, there certainly are a few examples of apparently genuine SEA blades made from wootz; most exhibit losses to the wootz due to suboptimal forging temperatures though.
I agree that this really seems to be wootz. Is the reason why you favour a northern Indian (or Ottoman) origin the larger/medium size of the grain? For the time being, I would not exclude a southern Indian origin. It does not have the more linear grain common to Ottoman sham though.
Is the whole blade from wootz, possibly from a single ingot? Any details visible at the back of the blade?
While some smiths did travel around, I'm less convinced that this is the only feasible/possible explanation here: Are there possibly any indications that this blade might have been carved from an imported blank? (Also a really tough job, indeed!)
Regards,
Kai
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