Mughal sword handle. Am I dreaming?

ariel · 7th June 2012, 11:57 AM

Something is happening to the Indian weapons: about 2-3 years ago there started to appear obviously new ( and even advertised as such!) Indian swords and daggers of rather decent workmanship. Now, the market is awash in newly-made or renovated ( old blade + new handle)and artficially-aged tulwars, khandas, khanjars etc, with asking prices starting at $1,000.One can still see the incongruities, but the sellers do not seem to care. Many just dropped the designations "old" or "replica" altogether and sell them as is: caveat emptor!
It became a real industry there. From the collectors' point of view, this is much worse than the "chinese invasion" of illiterate, pure fantasy, pseudo-russian, pseudo-french, pseudo-chinese etc junk. The indian stuff is much closer to genuine objects, and the artistic/historical/technical level is several orders of magnitude higher. If they get any better ( and they will, I am afraid!), we will have a real problem, akin to a meteoric transition of caucasian weapons from genuine samples to sophisticated and highly professional forgery.
Are they sold in India, and are they commanding high prices? Emanuel, you are close to the ground; what is your feel?

7th June 2012, 11:57 AM	#14
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Something is happening to the Indian weapons: about 2-3 years ago there started to appear obviously new ( and even advertised as such!) Indian swords and daggers of rather decent workmanship. Now, the market is awash in newly-made or renovated ( old blade + new handle)and artficially-aged tulwars, khandas, khanjars etc, with asking prices starting at $1,000.One can still see the incongruities, but the sellers do not seem to care. Many just dropped the designations "old" or "replica" altogether and sell them as is: caveat emptor! It became a real industry there. From the collectors' point of view, this is much worse than the "chinese invasion" of illiterate, pure fantasy, pseudo-russian, pseudo-french, pseudo-chinese etc junk. The indian stuff is much closer to genuine objects, and the artistic/historical/technical level is several orders of magnitude higher. If they get any better ( and they will, I am afraid!), we will have a real problem, akin to a meteoric transition of caucasian weapons from genuine samples to sophisticated and highly professional forgery. Are they sold in India, and are they commanding high prices? Emanuel, you are close to the ground; what is your feel?