Shashka scabbard mountings suggestions?

[erlikhan]

I bought this shashka yesterday. Nice walrus hilt and hanging tool( or what it is called in English). Scabard mountings are lost. Any suggestion about the proper thing I must look for to restore it? Were they originally gold engraved iron perhaps?
http://www.pbase.com/erlik19/inbox

[ariel]

That's the first time I see walrus mounting!
Wild suggestion: how about walrus or ivory for the rest? Ot metal (silver?) with ivory plates on it?
Very, very nice one... Congratulations!
Any markings on the blade?

[RSWORD]

Very unusual to see a scabbard mount made of ivory! I doubt the top and bottom scabbard mount would also have been ivory but as Ariel suggests, perhaps silver with ivory plaques.

[Yannis]

For me also is the first time that I see an ivory mount. I wonder how strong can it be to hold the weight of the sword.

Is it possible to be holow with metal inside?

For the rest fittings I say ivory too, exept the top throat.

When you have the most difficult part of ivory, the rest that they have no presure, could be ivory too. A very strange scabbard indeed.

[Rather]

WOW – What a beauty! Congratulations, I envy you. I personally would use Ivory of the same colour for the missing parts. As one can only guess, what was originally used, I would restore it a way fitting to the style of the other parts.

[Battara]

Like Rsword, I would also suggest silver. It would compliment the ivory and be more traditional (not to mention a whole lot cheaper).

[erlikhan]

wow. is it really so interesting? thanks a lot. i was thinking of restoring it with low grade silver or brass cheaply and to resell as i paid something even less than that costs for the cheapest types of original kinjals. so perhaps i must consider its value on a different scale and keep it for myself after restoring it with walrus, as even just that bottom mounting alone would cost twice of the amount i gave for the sword itself, if made from walrus . Or original decorated silver mountings , if I can find a spare set in market,would be ok too. And the hanger loop is carved from single piece ivory .no metal inside.

[Rivkin]

It seems to be a rare example, I think that most post 1850 expensive shashkas would have silver niello, so it must be a very expensive shashka that is also probably old. Are there any marks on the blade ?

[erlikhan]

although steel quality is very high, no mark on the blade. not a rich sample unlike the scabbard and hilt for sure.
6504827069 . an ivory hilted shashka ended today. can anybody define the blade? is it too badly sharpened or what? machine made chrome plated? seemed strange to me.

[Rivkin]

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[Andrew]

Discussion of auctions should never include editorial comments about the seller. Please take those discussions to private e-mail.

Rivkin, please see: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4

Thanks.

Andrew

[Rivkin]

Yeap, sorry about that.

But I think that there is no other way to answer "why is this item looks suspicious".

[Andrew]

Yeap, sorry about that.

But I think that there is no other way to answer "why is this item looks suspicious".

No worries. :)

The way to handle it is to discuss the item itself in an objective manner, and reserve editorial comments about sellers for PM or email. ;)

[tom hyle]

This was not likely a particularly expensive/fancy sword when new. Note the plain-ness of the blade. Note it has the hollow-cheeked/quill-back profile of the "tribal" sabre, not the more Western-style crisp-fullered blades favoured by aristocrats. Note that the ivory is not in the least ornate, decorated or carved. This sword was probably dressed without access to a jeweller, probably due to extreme rurality, possibly extreme Northness. Note the absense, not only of metal sheath fittings, but of even the usual metal ferule/bolster on the sword itself. The walrus ivory, rather than a luxury, may have been somewhat a material of some convenience; perhaps it was available and horn or metal was not, perhaps it was preferred for its hardness. Unless you see any residue from metal oxides where they are missing, I see no reason to suspect the other scabbard mounts were any different from the one it still has. True, an upper suspension mount of ivory may not seem sufficient, but A/ not everything anyone does is (even vaguely) smart or ideal, B/ ivory in good shape is pretty strong, and C/ I've seen old pictures of 19th c. shahsh'shka (love the spelling?) worn thust through the sash, edge-up, their European sheath danglers relegated to a decorative role (well, they do actually keep it from sliding out your belt pretty well.). The only other thing I'll mention is the connection of walri, and of ivory working among Northern peoples, to The Sea.
This is the first time the pictures have worked for me. Nice looking sword. Sounds like you got a very good buy, too.

[tom hyle]

sheath mountings and ferules of ivory, bone, and horn are common on Indonesian work, and are sometimes seen elsewhere. I might suggest bone (for the throat piece) and/or antler as readily affordable alternatives to ivory which can very closely match its appearance, without any desire to fool Sherlock Holmes about it.