What is it, really?

[DaveA]

Hello all,

I recently won a sword at auction. It was advertised to be an Indian Tulwar, but I knew that was wrong. I was thinking Persian or elsewhere in the Gulf region. That’s also wrong. So what is it? It is probably Chinese since the blade has archaic, stylized characters …

It looks like it could be seal script (篆书, zhuànshū) or a decorative variation often used for engravings on swords, tools, and ceremonial objects… it looks like it could be a martial phrase, something like “武風雷霆” or “武鋒雷霆”, which would roughly mean:
• “Martial Wind and Thunder”
• or “The Martial Edge is like Thunder and Lightning.”

Here are some pictures. Any ideas?

Dave A