Hi Jens,
Sorry for the delay in responding. I have been very busy lately and dont get much time to visit. Umm though it was not uncommon to copy european blades, it was relatively rare to mark them with english/latin letters (basically because the smiths who would be producing them did not know a word of English and you would be able to spot the copy invariably). This does not mean that they were not marked as such, but only that it was relatively un-common.
To comment on some of the other questions raised...and I would be surmising here to some extent so bear with me. Good quality wootz blade production was dwindling sometime around the late eighteenth early nineteenth century. Also, around this time good quality european blades were more easily available, what with the thriving east west trade (We were well into the colonial era by now). There is no doubt that the european blades were of good quality and very hardy. Also, to some extent it may have been fashionable to own one.
I would like to mention that I have seen some of the most exquisite Mughal/Rajput era sword hilts with old 'Genoa' blades. These blades were curved and had a shape like the usual Tulwar blades?? I was really surprised as the quality of the Hilts along with the matching scabbard mounts were of astonishing quality and undoubtedly from the seventeenth century or earlier. I would normally have expected the hilts to be mounted on the highest quality wootz blades...but they werent?? I have seen at least four examples and all have old 'Genoa' blades. So undoubtedly highly quality european blades were prized by the Indians even though good quality wootz was available here
. I wonder if anybody has any views on 'Genoa' blades in Indian Hilts...has anyone else seen any?
Best regards,
Karni