Russian Roulette

[Marcus]

Pay your money, take your chance.

This just in from eBay. Purportedly this came out of Georgia, I am suspecting Afghanistan was where it originated. It is similar to one currently on hold at Oriental arms. I can’t find any marks on the blade and the hilt is interesting with a hole on the back that could be used to attach a lanyard through the hilt. Alternatively, it could be a defect or have come from the age of the item.

Comments welcome. I know it is not an especially awesome piece.

[Marcus]

Showing the hole through the hilt.

[spiral]

Interesting piece!

The hilt is heated & flattened horn , the hole, is the naturally occurring hollow from the centre of the horn.

spiral

[Marcus]

or origin.

[Oliver Pinchot]

Spiral is right about the hole.
Often, military blades were mounted as shashkas in period; it was a common practice. But it is also being done now. You might look carefully around the base of the grip, where the blade tang goes in, for traces of modern adhesive such as epoxy.

Why do you think it originated in Afghanistan?

[spiral]

Not my subject..... ;)

spiral

[Marcus]

No trace of glue. Afghanistan just because of the piece on the Oriental Arms site. No really good reason.

[David R]

This one looks good to me! The Afghan shashkas tend to have a distinctive look, usually having a metal mount at the base of the blade like a pesh kabz and a two piece grip.

[ariel]

Doesn't look Afghani to me: they have very distinct large and elongated pommel.