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Originally Posted by Mark Bowditch
Interesting. The photo of the side panel shows the figures a silver, and the background foliage yellowish - maybe it is gold. It would be a first for me if it were. I suppose brass is a possibility, but it doesn't look quite the right color for that, either. I am interested to hear the results of your cleaning.
I think the grind marks along the edge are due to "authentic" re-sharpening. they look to me to have been done with a whetstone & not with a file or grinding wheel. As I said, you could leave them or polish them down a bit, depending on whether or not you want it to be completely as found (or last used).
Its a very nice piece.
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I think the yellow material is almost certainly brass. Brass decoration is quite common on these swords. Gold would be very unusual and I don't see other signs of lavish decoration to complement such an expensive ornamentation.
The grind marks are likely to be from a stone, as Mark has said. These marks can be found on very well made dha, and do not detract from the piece in any way IMO. They are genuine signs of use within the culture and I am inclined to leave them unchanged.
ian.