Lance head ?? Indo Persian? Seller stated African

[katana]

Hi Rick,
when you mentioned 'cast' ....I originally assumed you meant 'crucible steel. Weapons and tools were made from cast and were often marked 'warranted cast steel' as a sign of the quality of metal.

Now, I understand ...what you meant by cast was mould (mold ) 'formed' .

All I can say is the surface is covered in 'micro pitting' caused by corrosion and not bubbles form during casting. The 'fullering' seems forged although under high magnification I can see some fine scratches, in line with the fullers...possibly grinding/file marks to 'tidy them up'.

The socket is only hollow for 2/3 of its length the remaining third nearest the head is solid. Which again suggests to me that this design is to sustain 'hard impact'. ie the shaft end fitted into the socket would be flat (spreading the impact force) usually it would be pointed. The best analogy would be stiletto heels on a wooden floor compared to 'flat' shoes.....not that I've worn 'stiletto's recently

The koftgari also strongly suggests that this was not a 'throw away' item, so throwing spear is very unlikely......surely it has to be a lance head ???

I must admit I am 'itching' to find out what is hidden below the black stabilised rust layer (is there a name for this ) but do not want to remove 'the age' from the piece. What if I carefully clean one of the facets of the blade ??? leaving the other 3 'natural' . If there is a lot of the koftgari surviving below this layer, it would give more information ....but would it de-value the piece ???

All opinions gratefully received

Regards David

[Tim Simmons]

David, is there any way you can show the marks on this piece. A picture, rubbing or just copy then to a piece of paper. I am most interested to see. I have been doing some digging. The red paint is also interesting.

[katana]

Hi Tim,
thanks for your interest. Heres a drawn picture



Kind Regards David

[Tim Simmons]

Interesting. Could it be just engraving? Are they like Indian symbols? The placing and minimalism does not remind me of Idian work. I could see some similarity to Adinkra symbols? It might even be a piece of iron in a ritual context? The red paint might have some relavance?

[katana]

Hi Tim,
the dark rust stablised patination covers around 98% of the surface, I decided to use a nylon type 'washing up' scourer to clean the surrounding area..... using a lot of water and gentle pressure.

This has nearly entirely removed the design , the design was a dull/shiny silver colour. I am convinced that this was the remains of koftgari which due to corrosion had 'lifted' from the steel and was held in 'suspension' in the stablised patina. I had sucessfully removed some of this layer....but in doing so had also removed much of the 'noticeable' koftgari

The 'sun' sign was only around 3mm in size and was very precise , as were the surviving lines.

Still, believing that it was indeed koftgari and the taking into account that this piece might be circa 18th C. I have concluded that the steel may be of quality ....perhaps even wootz (although I'm not holding my breath). I have decided to clean the 'head' and try an etch.

I am leaving the socket, as is, at the moment....until I can find out the relevance of the red ring.

All the best,

Kind Regards David

PS. I have found the 'remains' of another identical 'sun' sign next to the edge, just below one of the fullers

[katana]

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

[katana]

Below is a picture of a Khanda hilt, the Koftgari designs are very similar to the visible 'ghosting' marks I can see in the spear head.

Would these designs be common to certain areas of India, or groups or are they fairly common ?

Regards David


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