Another Tulwar for Comments

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Stan S.

Appears to be very old and has some interesting features:

-The blade has chiseld floral designs on both sides. One is at the ricasso, the other is at the base of the false edge (strange place to put a "cartouche" don't you think?). These are clearly done over cold steel after the blade was forged and could have been added much later. You can clearly see the artsist's hand in these - he may have gone off in one as it does not properly line up with the shape of the blade
- The hilt has thin slightly downcurved quillons. It is also lacking a sun/flower element usually seen on tulwar hilts. Instead, there is a deep dome in a slightly cupped pommel. This dome reminds me of a pulowar hilt
- The scabbard is pretty bizarre. Instead of being covered in fabric or tooled leather as expected from a tulwar scabbard, it looks to be covered with crude raw hide. In all of my years of collectinig Indo persian stuff I have never seen this. The stitching is rough and uneven, and there are still hairs visible in places, although overall leather is very worn and looks like an old parchment. My knowledge of animal furs is non-existant but I would guess some type of a hooved hebivore, a goat, deer, donkey, or even a horse. Another interesting feature of the scabbard is that if worn in a traditional fashion on a left hip, it is flat on the outside but quite concave on the side facing the body (where the stitches are).
- Overall the sword is very light and well balanced. The blade appears to be made of good non-wootz steel

Not really asking any questions but any and all comments are welcome as always

Salaams Stan S, It appears to be a Pulouar made in Afganistan. My suspicion is it has been set up for the tourist market as the chased decoration looks hastily done .. There appears to be not a lot of wear in the blade edge and I wonder if this has been chucked the earth for a few months to age it ? Regards Ibrahiim al Balooshi.