Strange mark on tang

[Philip]

Thanks for the additional pics, Andreas. Well, that throws my Arabic theory out the window, the blade seems to be of purely European design. The punched mark on the root of the tang looks Western to me as well. I checked my references on Mamluk and early Ottoman blades (on which tang markings are occasionally found) but there's nothing close. A longer inscription as you had posted originally would be found on the exposed portion of the blade on such weapons. And although a couple of the letters have a passing resemblance (hence my use of the word "stylized") , it's a matter of close but no cigar at any rate. Hopefully, somebody out there has a better idea.