The saga continues....after further cleaning I have found faint flower motifs, decorated borders and other very fine design detailing in varying amounts. The sides of the head have symmetrical designs (either side of the midrib), so where some of the designs are worn on one side of the blade they are sometimes evident on the other.
At first glance they seem to be acid etched but am almost certain that they are the remaining imprints of the koftgari which has 'marked' the steel. Perhaps these are caused by the remaining silver particles or some sort of electrolytic action between the silver and steel
Of what I can make out the designs are definately India.
The steel does appear to be possibly wootz, the difficulty is due to the remaining designs which give the 'appearance' of 'patterning'.
On older pieces was koftgari mainly used on quality steel such as wootz ? Should I clean and polish a window and etch ? All comments and opinions apreciated, thank you
Regards David