Welcome Robert. I don't know if we'll get you the help you want, but there are some people on the forum who ought to know about this kind of thing. Uncle has probably turned in for the night, but he'll be along in the morning, and we have some UK people as well as a really sharp and knowlegeable collector or two. If they can't help, they ought to be able to tell you whom to contact such as places like Oriental Arms.
H. I. is a modern arun or shop devoted to producing the kind of khukuris made by I guess you'd call them the master kamis/ bladesmiths in the past, but seldom seen outside the villages blacksmithies anymore. Most khuks seen nowadays are mass produced sweatshop tourist class work. H. I. on the other hand wants to produce true traditional blades to keep the art of making them alive, to keep a supply of true khukuris available for the user and collector who insists on the real thing. It is very interested in antiques, but mainly as examples of the art that it's masters can study and learn from.
Could you read out and post the engraved message on the scabbard? Uncle Bill or John Powell would probably find it helpful.
Please listen up here! I have no business doing this, but I'm going to take a chance at making a double rear-ended jackass of myself ( remember the 1967 movie of "Doctor Doolittle" that had a llama like push-me/pull-you with two front ends? ) and do a lot of guessing. Remember the old TV show "Cheers" where Cliffie the Postal Worker knew the answer to everything - OK, the advice you're gonna get from me is worth what you paid for it and is just as accurate as Cliffie's pontificating.
I'd say it looks like quality and as if it has a balance to it. The horn to bolster to blade fit looks very nicely done, as does the horn to buttcap. No appearance of horn shrinkage or cracking, but maybe a ding or two from wear or carrying though mated to a well made but not flashy scabbard. The handle looks fairly short length behind the rings, so probably made to Nepali sized hands. The thing that interests me is whether this blade has been refinished from about the center of a nicely done cho forward ( someone help me here please - if it's original why the greater than usual disparity between finishes? ) . The area where the two finishes meet suggests a Gelbu type fullering in the center of the blade. Looks like beautifully proportioned and elegant blade lines.
If I ran into a British double rifle like this it would probably be a piece made by a better or best quality maker for for the Army/Navy stores and of that ( Army/Navy ) grade high quality innards but and fairly high but less than perfect external finish.
I've already said that I don't know what I'm talking about. But now I've shot my mouth off, the knowlegeable folks can start ventilating my guesses and correcting my ass-u-me(ptions) and we may all learn something.
Thank you for posting the picture, and again welcome to Uncle Bill's Star Wars Cantina and Stage Stop. Pull up a chair by the cracker barrel and set a spell. It's kind like being a new patient in the mental ward of the hospital - won't take long until what the other inmates say starts to make perfect sense to you. Trust me...
such as age etc.
