I'm not saying the entire piece is Indian, just the blade. The lettering could be a post-manufacture add-on but the profile of the blade, the fullering and the umbrella/parasol mark are quite Indian. The crown is unusual with the parasol mark. We have to remember that blades from India can be found in East European and Western mounts. Look at the spine of this blade. This form of blade from India often, not always, will have a recessed or fullered spine and this feature is not common in blades from other parts of the world. I doubt the blade is in good enough polish to see if it is watered or not and being from India it could be anything but take it into good sunlight and see if you can notice any pattern welding or other watering. Also, it appears there is the slightest hint of a "ricasso" at the cutting edge of the blade near the hilt which is quite reminescent of some Indian blades which are sharpened a few inches down from the hilt and over long periods of time can be "indented" quite a bit.
In thinking about the script, there are a number of Indian blades that have European style lettering that is basically non-descript, done in imitation of European markings. This script reminds me of some of those examples.
|