Thank you all for the replies
It's nice to hear this sword could be so old. Lee the blade is flexible and the crudeness is the result of sharpening and possibly someone trying to smooth out dents and nicks in the past. Otherwise everything is crisp about this blade.
The fuller pattern is what made me think European blades. For some reason I thought British but I can't quite identify any pattern with this type of fullering.
I actually just received some khukri and it's striking how the quality of fullers impacts the overall aspect of a blade. One has straight, deep and regular fullers like this firangi, while the other has superficial, irregular ones that are more of an afterthought. Nice fullers seem to add much more to the piece.
Thank you Jim and Jens for the hilt confirmation. I think it's in "Hindu Arms and Ritual" that I saw a similar southern hilt; I'll check. Lew I'm not so sure the spike was cut. I've seen pics of firangi with these smaller spikes, and this one looks too clean without any sign of breakage.
I'm very pleased with this sword, looking forward to it being in my care for a long time.
Best regards to all,
Emanuel