Hi Norman,
I'm really glad to see you posting here, and I'm glad you brought your interesting tulwar to us for discussion. I regret any difficulties encountered and am glad its resolved! I'm hoping you'll stay with us, and very much look forward to seeing the other items you mentioned as well.
Thank you for showing us the entire weapon, which does remind me in seeing it overall, of tulwars which seem likely of far northern borders, close to Afghanistan. Spirals comment on having seen similar script on old Afghan weapons seems of course to have been very much on target, now that I see the sword. His comment on the centrally placed rivet in the chowk recalling Afghan swords is equally well placed (see 'good news, bad news tulwar').
The scabbard with heavy chape component and overall appearance seems Afghan, and further suggests tulwars which quite likely diffused from Northwest Frontier regions into Afghanistan. Although many of the weapons of Afghanistan are distinctly recognized, such as the paluoar, the Khyber knife, the lohar ...there is a diversity of weapons from congruent regions also such as the tulwars as noted, shashkas and developed weapons of British influence at the end of the 19th century.
Spiral, thank you for including that script, it does seem that the tribal languages of these regions might reveal script similar to the marks on Norman's tulwar. Any thoughts on the floral motif along the blade? In looking at the circle and three dots, could this have to do with the 'cintamani' often appearing in Central Asian motif? I know sometimes it is three dots with lines below suggesting tiger stripes, but maybe this has some association?
Lee, thank you for the explanation concerning the technical issues,
and Norman thank you again for your patience!
All very best regards,
Jim