Knife for ID

[kahnjar1]

What is this please? Bischaq? Kard? Origin?
Stu

[Bob A]

Registering a guess - Balkan?

[Kubur]

I will be more adventurous
Bosnian, Sarajevo? Ottoman very late 19th

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?p=48486

[kahnjar1]

Thanks for the link Kubur. Unfortunately the blade on mine is well pitted so I can not see any marks.
Stu

[RobT]

Hi Kahnjar1,

I just happened to pick up one of these just last week. Kubur is correct. These knives are typical of Bosnia/Sarajevo. The knives vary greatly in size. The one I just got has a 5" blade marked "Sarayevo 1889" on one side and stamped with the Sarajevo knife symbol on the other. I also have an example with an unmarked 7" blade. My biggest one has a 10" blade marked "Sarayevo 1890". I also have a knife and fork set marked "Bosnia Foca 1891" (there is a diacritical mark above the "c" in "Foca" that I can't reproduce). According to Wikipedia, Bosnia Foca is in eastern Bosnia Herzegovina on the Drina river. Both the knife and fork have the characteristic Sarajevo knife handles. The knife blade is only 4" long. I suspect that the knife and fork were originally a trousse set and the sheath has been lost.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Battara]

Rob is correct.

The knives from this region also come by themselves as well. Most of these forms resemble the Balkan yataghan hilt.

I believe the knives are called “bichaqs.”

[RobT]

Hi Battara,

Awhile ago I met a Turkish seller of arms and militaria books. He said that bichaq (or biçak) just means knife in Turkish. Google Translate appears to agree and translates "knife" in English to biçak in Turkish. Since the former Yugoslavia area was part of the Ottoman Empire, they probably picked up the word from the Turks. By the way, I didn't mean to imply that the trousse set was typically how these knives come. Over the years, I have seen a good number of these knives but only two trousse sets.

Sincerely,
RobT