Tulwar markings?

[Jim McDougall]

Very true that in regions now part of Pakistan, especially in the Khyber Pass area, the gunsmiths are phenomenal. The one city that comes to mind is Darra, and it seems I have seen this city focused on in some National Geographic article showing walls full of guns in shops and bazaars. These are so faithfully reproduced it is often hard to discern the duplicate from original for the layman. The Pathan tribes have always been amazing at crafting all manner of weaponry, and their 'ancient' jezails are legendary. Throughout the 19th century these constantly refurbished guns often carried venerable EIC locks, and these markings were faithfully reproduced on the locks produced by the gunsmiths well into the 20th century, and probably still are. I recall many years ago having an EIC percussion pistol with the rampant lion marking and being told this was a typical relatively recent Khyber product rather than the c.1840 example presumed.Ouch!!! I certainly couldn't tell the difference! then.

Best regards,
Jim