Kard knife with silver and niello

[AJ1356]

I bought this Knife a few weeks ago, it just caught my eye as something unique. I have no idea of its age or origin. The dealer I bought it from said the old man who sold it to him told him they used it as a piece for weddings.
The reddish jewels used in the handle is coral, and the handle seems to be horn, what animal i don't know. For its origin I think someone found it digging around and re-sheeted it, since the sheet sans the fittings seem to be much newer than the rest of the knife (probably they wanted a newer looking knife for the weddings) light wootz pattern can be seen on the blade.

[Tim Simmons]

I am very interested in this design. I might think your knife is Cental Asian, which is rather vague. I do hope you get a more informed oppinion.

[Gavin Nugent]

I agree it is Central Asian. The grip slabs appear to be Rhino horn too.

Gav

[AJ1356]

Any idea what era it might be from? From what I read the Saljuks were the first to use niello(Sia Qalam in Farsi) work in this area, and the Bukharans were the last. So with that i was guessing something between 800-150 years for the age of this knife. The decay in the silver,(holes in the end peice of the handle and bottom of the sheet fitting) makes me think it may set on the older end, and that is why i was thinking it might have spent some time under some layers of dirt.

[Gavin Nugent]

AJ, my opinion based on the techniques used on some surfaces of the silver and that the chape being of Russian/European design I wouldn't consider it at face value not any older than mid 19th century, though personally I feel closer to the last quarter toward 1900. It is possible aspects of the knife only are recycled from slightly older pieces...

Gav

[Kurt]

I'm sure the card comes from Afghanistan.
These are the typical Afghanistn scabbard mounts.
K.