T.ulwar and EIC

[Jim McDougall]

LOL! Yup, ya done got me OK! As they say here in TX.
According to my wife, I do say things uh, 'off center' a lot, so not surprised for any miscommunication.
The spurious marks thing is actually pretty much a tradition with trade blades and typically many native made blades....and for that matter throughout Europe. Look at the fabled maker Andrea Ferara, who had to have been immortal to have made thousands of blades for nearly 300 years! (no I am not saying there really was such a guy)

I recently read of a blade probably from India, with a hodgepodge of markings on the blade that consisted of runes, Berber, Ogham and Greek characters.
In the Khyber, they were stamping EIC markings on gun locks through the 19th and well into the 20th century.

It sounds like you and Gene have both encountered these 'EIC' or 'EIG' marked tulwars, so they must be out there in some number. Who knows, maybe during the changeover, some armoury smith who hadn't gotten the memo kept using his old EIC stamp. Its been known to happen

All the best,
Jim