Silver Hilted Wootz Tulwar, North India

The hilt on this sword has been overlaid with multi-petalled flowerheads in silver. The application of the silver is thick, with 90% intact throughout the hilt. The style of work in silver is typical of tulwars made in North India and in Pubjab workshops.

A superior quality blade made from wootz, showing a scarf weld. Scarf welds were common in Rajasthan and central north India, and they appear when two billets of wootz steel are forge welded together to make a sword. This is often quite desirable, because it allows for a softer, lower carbon steel near the tang, and a harder high carbon steel towards the main part of the blade.