North Indian Mahrattan Sword with Damascus Blade

 A very interesting heavyweight North Indian fighting sword having a straight western or ‘firingi’ style sword blade. The hilt is of large tulwar form with a large discoid pommel, the whole handle retaining some gold decoration under old varnish. The blade massive and displaying a strong damascus pattern typical of the complex pattern-welding often favoured in this style of sword. There are deep markings to the upper blade, a series of maker or quality ‘eyebrow’ stamps and another less distinct area which appears to have some etched latin letters in a small panel. The blade has a shallow wide fuller for its length, the tip is double sharpened, and the back edge with applied steel reinforcement decorated with gold, terminating with a small dragons head. The Mahrattas were feared horseman and were particularly fond of straight bladed broadswords as with this example, although the style of this hilt suggest an origin further North in Rajasthan. An unusual and good quality sword with an interesting history. Circa 1800.North India    Indo persia