Opinion on Sold Ebay Shamshir

[ALEX]

This was sold on Ebay last week (Item 6593980441):

http://cgi.ebay.com/TURKISH-OTTOMAN-SWORD-SHAMSHIR-DAMASCUS-STEEL-18TH-C_W0QQitemZ6593980441QQcategoryZ72045QQssPageNameZ WDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have very similar sword (no point to post pictures since it's almost a copy) BUT:

- The scabbard on mine (and I know for fact) is NEW - made about a year ago. I've heard it has been reproduced based on some catalog picture of an old Syrian style of scabbard (Have you heard/seen those?)
- How about the statement - the blade is the original black damascus steel ( about 300 years old ) ? Any comments based on a pattern?
- IMHO, it's kind of short????

[Rivkin]

Imho it is a rather newly made scabbard and koftgari, the blade is probably somewhat old. Just my 2c.

[erlikhan]

I requested close ups of this shamshir during the auction and saw that the scabbard, its mountings and cross guard are all new and silver koftgari cheaply done. Blade must be old.

[RSWORD]

It is most probably a piece mounted up in Syria with all new fittings and koftgari utilizing an older Shamshir blade. Hard to tell the coloration of the blade in the pictures but the wootz pattern seems typical of Syrian/Turkish wootz.