with curved blade formed with a shallow fuller, bifurcated at the tip and pierced with a pine-cone shaped aperture behind, cut with a series of inscriptions at the tip and over the forte, the latter within a linear frame, gilt copper alloy hilt engraved with a dense pattern of flowerheads on a finely punched ground, comprising langets with shaped terminals, a pair of bulbous quillons, recurved knuckle-guard with shaped terminal, large dish-shaped pommel and integral grip, 82.5 cm blade

The inscriptions are Arabic and read, in part, at the forte: '… baldat al-kabul … husayn … ya ‘ali fatima imam(?)' (… city of Kabul … Husayn … O ‘Ali, Fatima Imam(?)), at the tip 'shir-i mardan … la fath [sic] illa ‘ali la sayf illa dhu’l-faqar husayn hasan imam bibi fatima … al-sayf … min baldat al-kabul' (Lion of men (i.e. ‘Ali) .. there is no hero but ‘Ali no sword but Dhu’l-Faqar, Husayn, Hasan, Imam, Bibi Fatima … the sword … from the city of Kabul) and on the reverse at the forte: 'la fata illa 'ali la sayf illa dhu’l-faqar ..' (There is no hero but ‘Ali, no sword but Dhu’l-Faqar).