INDIAN INFANTRY SWORD TULWAR, 18th-19th CENTURY

Bronze hilt of Delhi form, Pant Vol III fig.283, probably silver plated originally. 29” blade of heavy wedge section, with long, slightly raised false edge. Dark brown leather covered scabbard with tip frayed, accepts the sword but for about 5” and probably originally made for another sword. That is not uncommon for arsenal-kept swords as this was. Dating to the Colonial Period and two of its most important events, The Battle of Delhi (1803) and the India Rebellion of 1857. Thus it likely is a Maratha sword, in the service of the Marathas in the first action and subsequently, the British East India Company against which its owners rebelled in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-8