Tulwar Hilt Types

[Jens Nordlunde]

Ariel,
You are a very patient man, waiting so long time for an answer - sorry.
The age of you copper hilt is, to my opinion, 17th to early 18th century.
Sorry that you had to wait so long for the answer.
Jens

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All ~ Someone mentioned a classic thread on Tulvars and looking back through the Forum library I think the basis for that is here... and to give this one a bump... A great thread !

I have a humble Tulvar ... or two... the last picture shows Ethiopian blades(German) mounted on Tulvar hilts.

I hope Jens can also steer us on this one ...

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Yes it is an interesting thread, but let me round it up with this.
Many millions of hilts were made over centuries - how many have we left?
Most of the hilts were very plane, while others were nicely made and also nicely decorated.
How many of the very plane hilts has survived? Some, but not many, or if they have, they are late - the older ones would have been melted down to make new hilts/blades.
New hilts are made, and made to look old, either by chemicals or but burrying them in cow dung. Some even have the original, thin, decoration removed, and a new gold koftgari decoration applied - all very nice, but not for a collector.
Many buys from pictures only, and cant see through this - what a pity.
Jens
PS. Here is a better picture of the tulwar hilt Ibrahiim showed - I hope it is all right that I lightened it a bit?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

Yes it is an interesting thread, but let me round it up with this.
Many millions of hilts were made over centuries - how many have we left?
Most of the hilts were very plane, while others were nicely made and also nicely decorated.
How many of the very plane hilts has survived? Some, but not many, or if they have, they are late - the older ones would have been melted down to make new hilts/blades.
New hilts are made, and made to look old, either by chemicals or but burrying them in cow dung. Some even have the original, thin, decoration removed, and a new gold koftgari decoration applied - all very nice, but not for a collector.
Many buys from pictures only, and cant see through this - what a pity.
Jens
PS. Here is a better picture of the tulwar hilt Ibrahiim showed - I hope it is all right that I lightened it a bit?

Salaams Jens Nordlunde~ Thank you very much for lightening the picture ...Much obliged...Tussen Takk skall du har..

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams all Note to Forum "Then suddenly it started raining Tulvars" Here are a few I picked up this week. The coin is a silver rupee presumably added relatively recently .. There are two groups of dots on the blade; the first group of 4 sets of 3 set out in a rectangle and the second set of 3 spaced out dots forming a triangle to the right of shot. Feel free to comment please.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams ~and another....

[ariel]

Quite sometime ago I posted here a Tulwar hilt of an unusual design: deep cup with a massive baluster arising from the bottom. It was very reminiscent of the classic Sumatran Piso Podang handle. A similar one was published by Elgood in his "indian" book as an example of an "important" sword ( and there even was a lively discussion on what is "important":-) )

Jens was kind enough to tell us that this was a type of a handle encountered before 17th ( or even earlier) century, and even provided an illustration from Hamzanameh.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13600

Just for the reference I post here pics of that hilt next to the Piso Podang one.