[QUOTE=RobT;275700]As far as age goes, I am more inclined to say that the condition of all the components of the piece, rather than it having been made from a file indicates 20th century manufacture. Even if the file were not Nepali made, the British have been a presence in Nepal for a long time and it could have been one of theirs. /QUOTE]
Is it a file? At first glance I thought so but when I looked closer, I am not sure the marks aren't decorative. They have an appearance somewhere between a basketweave and a meander. If it is a file, it seems a distinctive cut pattern that could help identify a location of manufacture.
I would love to see a picture of the spine to see if the cuts are on the spine as well that would indicate it was an old file without a blind edge. Also, I would like to see distal taper. Since the ricasso doesn't have the pattern, it would have had to have been a very thick file (not a rasp, those have notches cut with the spikey chips raised) and a distal taper at the end of the ricasso for the smith to grind out the lines.
To be my own devil's advocate I do see six lines from the "file" on the saber grind, but to its right is almost a folded steel pattern. The difficulties of analysis from a single picture.
