Tanjore mini?? Info/ Comments

[archer]

Leave it to me to find strange items. OAL 8 1/2 ", blade 5 1/4", 2 3/4" between short guards. The diamond blade is 1/2" thick. Total weight 3/4 s of a pound.
The guards are pierced but clogged, traces of gold? with a bronze- like enameling? in background. Anyone ever see one like this?

[Battara]

What an interesting form of south Indian katar!

[KuKulzA28]

Now that looks to be the perfect size for self-defense on the street!

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Archer,

Congratulations on your find. It is a very interesting type of katar.

There are variations of this type of katars. You can find them now and again but not very often.

I have only handled a few but they all seem to be rather on the heavy side, short, with the side guards widening towards the top.

The interesting thing is, that on the side guards the same flower seem to be shown and the side guards all seem to be pierced, so it is likely they all come from the same area. If I were you I would play it safe, and write Deccan/south India.

The pieces I have seen are silver plated before the chiselling was finished, but I suppose they could also have been gold plated, although it would be the first one I have seen or heard of which was.

As to the age; I always find it difficult to judge a weapon from photos, as I don’t know if the photos have been manipulated with, but the ones I have seen all seemed to be from the 17th century.

Jens

[archer]

Hi Jens, Your correct, a bit of soap and water shows a plating of silver as the base. There's a gold colored layer and a copper like color lurking in the deeper recesses see photos on another knife. The scabbard is missing but, I'm fairly sure it may have been like the one shown. It is hefty for it's size 54 grams? I'm not at all sure of how these three metallic colors were applied.
Steve