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Originally Posted by CharlesS
...Now the question of course is the age of the koftgari. Alex has mentioned he believes it is not original to the sword. The slightly crudish cross hatching makes me suspicious. I am not sure, but even if it is not original to the sword, it surely was not applied "yesterday" based on all the gunk I had to get off the blade...
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Charles,
The cross-hatchings do not look unusually crude and long (based on new close-ups). The reason I originally thought they're new was because I saw very similar work in Damascus, i.e. large and clear stamps, and no visible loss to gold. Now, after looking closely at your pictures, it is NOT that obvious. Next week I'll show them to my coftgari-maker friend and he'll be able to determine the age. He's quite good at it. I'll let you know.