Shamshir for comment

[AJ1356]

A very nice sword, heavy blade made of folded steel, not wootz. the hilt is leather wraped wood, unfortunately the wood is broken at 2 places, 1 where it curves by the pommel area and 2nd by the hand gaurd. There is serious oxidation on the area that were not covered by the scabard. However the oxidation has stoped. There are no marks on the blade, just a nice straight and uniform blade.

[Lew]

Now that the sale is finalized I have reopened the thread. :)

Lew

[Dom]

the hilt is leather wraped wood, unfortunately the wood is broken at 2 places,.Hi AJ
YES, a very attractive shamshir, congratulations
if you wish to save the scabbard (if possible to paste it ?)
the leather (in fact, not leather) should be renew :shrug:
it's in reality; "shagreen" ; either rawhide from "ray or shark skin"
time to time there is is sold on internet, if you choose to refurbish; hilt, and scabbard, could be a solution, the weapon it merit it ;)

all the best, and keep us in picture, if you reconditioned it :p

à +

Dom

[AJ1356]

DOM,
Thanks for the Idea, upon closer inspection the cover infact is what you call shagreen, and not regular leather as I first thought. Which brings to mind, where the hell did they get that here? my mind is not coming up with any place in central asia/middle east that would have stingrays. It was glued on originally and not sewn which to me is a bit wierd since I see all leathers to be sewn on the sheets. If I re-do it I'll change the quilion as well to something nicer as well as the pommel piece, and maybe the handle in something exotic. but for now I am thinking of keeping it original.
Edit: Upon further reading I see that shagreen was made of leather from horse's behind as well... so that explains a lot as well.

[kahnjar1]

KEEP IT ORIGINAL IMHO..................This sword has history!!

[ALEX]

Totally agree with Stu. Keep it as-is. It is complete with all matching parts. not a good idea to "break it" trying to enhance the look. it's an average shamsheer, not much can be done to make it special or attractive without risking ruining its integrity.
Also, what makes you think it's shagreen????? the "bubbles"? old leather is often like this. does not mean it is shagreen.

[AJ1356]

Yeah I was not planning to do anything to it, it was an idea, but once I thought about it not a great one. This is a fighing shamshir, the pretty ones are known as hunting swords ( shamshir e shekaari). This is very well made blade, I have seen lots and lots of blades around here and nothing like this. The quality and feel/weight of this blade is the same as some really nice Japanese foot soldier katanas I had handled when I was in Japan. As far as thinking that the covering is shagreen, the Turks used that on thier fighting swords as well, obviously not stingrey hide, but shagreen made of horse or donkey ass hide to give more grip. But then again it could be leather as I originally stated :shrug: