This Chillanum is one of the rarest daggers of the Indian arsenal. It is a 17 (or early 18) century piece, blade and hilt forged in one piece from steel. The re-curving double edge blade is 12 inches long with two fullers at its upper part. The pommel is made of two lunette shaped pieces of elephant ivory. There are some traces of gold decoration at the upper part of the blade. The blade has seen some age. There are some pitted spots and the gold inlay is almost completely worn. Unfortunately, the ivory pommel pieces are a later replacement and dyed deep brown to look antique (similar to so many done in India in the recent years). So are the gold rosettes on the pommel rivets. The fabric covered scabbard is recent. This is a very rare (and expensive) item, but how many have you really seen on the market??