I have an old Tulwar with the European blade and it has a hole in the middle of the blade (just like this one) and it is surrounded by a very faint imprint of an old reinforcing part. Obviously, it used to be riveted to another handle (Basket hilt-type). The cementing is very old, and the patination is uniform along the entire blade. No doubt the two parts lived together in harmony for a very, very long time.
The practice of remounting blades was indeed very widespread and the "hole" should in no way serve as the final evidence of forgery.
However, in this day and age one cannot be too paranoid....
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