19c. silver inlayed Indian axe for comment

[kronckew]

it arrived today, heavy at 680 grams (1.5 lb.), haft length 62 cm long by 2 cm. diameter.. blade is 20 cm. top point to bottom one. spike is 10 cm. blade and spike are sharp. nice patina. silver koftgari a bit worn in places. nice.

[VANDOO]

IT LOOKS LIKE A NICE EXAMPLE OF THE FORM. ITS NOT MY FIELD SO ABOUT ALL I CAN SAY IS INDO-PERSIAN AX DOES SHOW SOME PATINA TO THE SHAFT AND THE BLADE INLAY ABOUT NORMAL FOR THESE. YOU DON'T SEE AS MANY WITH THIS SHAPE OF BACK SPIKE AS THE DOUBLE BALDED OR HAMMER BACK FORMS SEEM TO BE MORE PREVALENT . PERHAPS A FORUM MEMBER WITH MORE KNOWLEDGE CAN PIN IT DOWN AS TO WHERE AND WHEN IT WAS MADE. GOOD LUCK

[kronckew]

handling it i wonder if there may have once been some sort of cord, leather, or wire wrapping on the haft to improve the grip, which has come off, or is it just that my hands are bigger than theirs?

[Jens Nordlunde]

Yes, most but not all Indians have a finer bone structure that the Europeans, you only need to take a tulwar or a katar in your hand to realise this.
Nice axe by the way :-).
Jens

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by kronckew

handling it i wonder if there may have once been some sort of cord, leather, or wire wrapping on the haft to improve the grip, which has come off, or is it just that my hands are bigger than theirs?

Actually the shaft of Indian weapons can be of a much smaller diameter than yours, some are almost imposible to grip properly. I seems to me that some must have been wrapped with leather etc but very little evidence of this exists. I know of one example which still shows a leather cover.