Fake blades from India and China

mariusgmioc · 16th April 2016, 11:05 PM

I have decided to open this thread as I was about to bid in a fairly good reputation auction for what I am pretty sure is a fake Indian Tulwar.

So I thought maybe it is good for us to exchange some tips and ideas to avoid falling for fakes.

So for the Indian Tulwar what are the signs to look for?!

1. A hilt with intact or excellent condition koftgari as koftgari is quite sensitive and cannot withstand centuries without leaving traces. However, one can make a new hilt and the wear off some of the koftgary to give it an antiquated look.

2. Indian Tulwars were used for cutting, thus they had to be kept sharp. However, in use they got nicks and lost the cutting edge, so they had to be resharpened. By resharpening, the blade became narrower, so one can easily notice the narrowing immediately after the ricasso. However, a new blade can be deliberately ground so that displays the narrowing like it was resharpened many times. And there can be of course old, genuine blades that didn't see much use and weren't resharpened.

3. A dark grayish blade, that does not display the characteristic wootz watering. The dark, grayish look is a sign the blade was etched. But there is absolutely no point to etch a blade that is not wootz, unless one wants to make it look like wootz and deceive less inquisitive customers.

4. A blade coming from India, as India has very strong laws against the export of antiques, and the violators are risking very harsh punishments. Yet, I bought genuine wootz blades directly from India, but I believe they were rather an exception than the rule.

16th April 2016, 11:05 PM	#1
mariusgmioc Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Austria Posts: 1,906	Fake blades from India and China I have decided to open this thread as I was about to bid in a fairly good reputation auction for what I am pretty sure is a fake Indian Tulwar. So I thought maybe it is good for us to exchange some tips and ideas to avoid falling for fakes. So for the Indian Tulwar what are the signs to look for?! 1. A hilt with intact or excellent condition koftgari as koftgari is quite sensitive and cannot withstand centuries without leaving traces. However, one can make a new hilt and the wear off some of the koftgary to give it an antiquated look. 2. Indian Tulwars were used for cutting, thus they had to be kept sharp. However, in use they got nicks and lost the cutting edge, so they had to be resharpened. By resharpening, the blade became narrower, so one can easily notice the narrowing immediately after the ricasso. However, a new blade can be deliberately ground so that displays the narrowing like it was resharpened many times. And there can be of course old, genuine blades that didn't see much use and weren't resharpened. 3. A dark grayish blade, that does not display the characteristic wootz watering. The dark, grayish look is a sign the blade was etched. But there is absolutely no point to etch a blade that is not wootz, unless one wants to make it look like wootz and deceive less inquisitive customers. 4. A blade coming from India, as India has very strong laws against the export of antiques, and the violators are risking very harsh punishments. Yet, I bought genuine wootz blades directly from India, but I believe they were rather an exception than the rule.