Has anyone seen anything similar to this sword?

[A.alnakkas]

Not Islamic at all. I'd suggest its east european.

[Dmitry]

I've perused my books on the Indian arms and did not see anything even remotely similar to the hilt and/or the decorations on the blade.
To toss another hand in the mix - the open hand mark was also used by the Swiss on the blades of the arsenal-kept swords.

[RSWORD]

I'm not saying the entire piece is Indian, just the blade. The lettering could be a post-manufacture add-on but the profile of the blade, the fullering and the umbrella/parasol mark are quite Indian. The crown is unusual with the parasol mark. We have to remember that blades from India can be found in East European and Western mounts. Look at the spine of this blade. This form of blade from India often, not always, will have a recessed or fullered spine and this feature is not common in blades from other parts of the world. I doubt the blade is in good enough polish to see if it is watered or not and being from India it could be anything but take it into good sunlight and see if you can notice any pattern welding or other watering. Also, it appears there is the slightest hint of a "ricasso" at the cutting edge of the blade near the hilt which is quite reminescent of some Indian blades which are sharpened a few inches down from the hilt and over long periods of time can be "indented" quite a bit.

In thinking about the script, there are a number of Indian blades that have European style lettering that is basically non-descript, done in imitation of European markings. This script reminds me of some of those examples.

[Dmitry]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

This form of blade from India often, not always, will have a recessed or fullered spine and this feature is not common in blades from other parts of the world.

The spine IS fullered. I will attach a photo later. Could you please post a photo of the umbrella/parasol decoration?
It is also possible that the blade is European, made to emulate the Eastern style, as was sometimes done in the 17th-18th. c. for the use in the so-called 'Turkish Balls', which were in fashion amongst the Germanic nobility.

[RSWORD]

Originally Posted by Dmitry

The spine IS fullered. I will attach a photo later. Could you please post a photo of the umbrella/parasol decoration?
It is also possible that the blade is European, made to emulate the Eastern style, as was sometimes done in the 17th-18th. c. for the use in the so-called 'Turkish Balls', which were in fashion amongst the Germanic nobility.

Here is a link to a discussion on the parasol mark and pictures of a couple of examples.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=parasol

In my experience, you only find the fullered spine in Indian swords and occasionally in Polish/E European blades and also in Chinese blades. Given the size, blade fullering and general look I lean heavily towards this blade being Indian.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Rick,
I am fully with you, the blade is Indian - to my opinion NW but I may be wrong.
Jens

[Battara]

I was wondering about that parasol and the sun - a trade to Ethiopia? (they have different forms of Hamsa).

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

In my experience, you only find the fullered spine in Indian swords and occasionally in Polish/E European blades and also in Chinese blades. Given the size, blade fullering and general look I lean heavily towards this blade being Indian.

As a note, I have fullered spines on Chinese, Burmese, Georgian, Indian and Sarawak weapons and have seen them on other Borneo, Turkic and Thai weapons too.

With the new images and now seeing clearly the step in the blade NW India is very possible for the blade.

Gav

[Dmitry]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

Here is a link to a discussion on the parasol mark and pictures of a couple of examples.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=parasol

In my experience, you only find the fullered spine in Indian swords and occasionally in Polish/E European blades and also in Chinese blades. Given the size, blade fullering and general look I lean heavily towards this blade being Indian.

Thank you very much! It's a great link, and something I had no idea about. An umbrella and a crown, a royal symbol of Hindus [Mughals?] and an ostensibly western royal symbol are pictured together.

[Jim McDougall]

Gav was right, I really do love this one!!! and it is such an anomaly, I must admit it has taken quite a bit of puzzled consideration to try to figure out what appears to be an amalgam of features, the extremely unusual hilt of a outstretched hand the most enigmatic.
I think Gav's suggestion of Hungarian is well placed, and as concurred by Rick (RSword) and Jeff, it seems to me that East European potential for this sword is very high.

In looking at the blade profile, this does indeed seem to be very close to the heavy falchion type blades that have been seen on tulwars (as pointed out to me by Gav) and were actually 'firangi' blades similar to those of N.Italy or Styria.

The note on the curious characters as mentioned by Iain, do carry certain similarities to Hungarian script, and the case for Eastern Europe is strengthened.

Regarding the hilt, with the hand, this is so unusual it would be hard to identify its specific meaning or association, however the scrolled quillon type terminal and the vestigial langet suggest some military association to its overall design. The eyelets remaining for the chainguard suggest this sword is likely hilted around mid 18th century.

Turning to the inlaid gold metal characters and the images of the winged figure surmounted by a rayed sun and the other side with what appears a Continental European type crown and a parasol, these have been placed on this blade probably European as noted.

The characters in the inscriptions seem to possibly be acrostics with these possibly Kabbalistic sigils, and magic related symbols which may have been interpolated . I have found parallels in degree to a number of the alphabet characters from Kabbala, as well as similarities to the inscription on a Bohemian court sword of early 18th century ("Catalog of European Court and Hunting Swords" Bashford Dean, N.Y. 1929, #26). The Bohemian sword is stated of the Strasbourg manner, and the characters seem to be as noted, an amalgam of symbols, sigils and characters, with the 'tau' type character matching at least one of the characters on this sword. The inlaid latten type inscription on the example posted here is reminiscent of this practice on the early Frankish swords and continued into the 17th-18th c. in many European blades.

In the inscription on the posted sword, several of the 'letters' resemble the crescent man in the moon type figure often seen in Kabalistically related 'talismanic' blades as well as the rayed sun over the winged figure in the markings. These astral features of sun, moon , stars are commonly in these 'talismanically' textured blade groupings of usually 18th century.

The parasol is truly a puzzle, as has been mentioned, being typically associated with the Mughal armouries in India. It should be noted that the parasol was also keenly associated with Ottoman armouries and is seen on a number of their weapons, and worthy of note the Ottomans were in Hungary until the beginning of the 18th century. The parasol may have other certain more ancient associations to ancient Israel as seen on coins, and while the image seen on the parasol in the markings on this blade resembles Mughal/Ottoman form, the image may be mindful of the ancient connection.
It was a fashion element signifying status and often regal association and had become a gentry device in Italy and probably these cosmopolitan centers of Europe by the late 17th century. Its placement over the crown suggests such status it would seem, much as noble ligatures over crowns in cyphers.

Several of the characters of Angelic script (created by Agrippa in the 16th c. from Greek and Hebrew letters) do correspond to some of those in the inscription here in some degree as far as I can see while some are Kabbalistic and magical sigils in style.

While at this point it is not possible to say with any certainty what this fascinating sword is from, perhaps a fraternal or secret group or society in regions of East Europe from the latter 18th century and by the hilt elements, likely military oriented. There may be allegorical elements to the sword overall, to which more explanation may be held in the inscriptions and devices in the markings and decoration but of course, more research required!!

All the best,
Jim

[fernando]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

... In thinking about the script, there are a number of Indian blades that have European style lettering that is basically non-descript, done in imitation of European markings...

Quite plausible; Turks (Ottoman) also practice this in firearms lockplates.