Any larger yataghan?

[erlikhan]

I acquired this big guy after trying for months with patience to convince its former owner,a friend of me. I pictured it together with a yataghan of the most classical size with 66 cm blade for comparison. Big one has 71 cm blade, thats very good though I have seen a few longer. But what makes it special is that it has a T bone of 1 cm and , it is a full 5 cm at the widest point! I dont have the appropriate counter, but it is around 2-3 times the weight of the one with classical size. Does anybody own or has seen a wider yataghan blade? And, about the silver koftgari ,translation help requested please.

regards

[Zifir]

Hi erlikhan,
The inscription is "La feta ila Ali la seyf ila zulfikar" There is no hero like Ali, no sword like zulfikar"

[HUSAR]

Hello
I had pictured yataghan some time ago and it was huge one, I do not remember the length of the blade but overall it was 92 cm :eek:
Best
HUSAR

[carlos]

THIS YATAGHAN LENGHT 73 CM OF BLADE, SIMILAR LIKE THE OTHER POST.
THANKS
CARLOS

[erlikhan]

Zifir thank you very much.
92 cm overall is the max. length i have met too. I am familiar with that model (length between 85 to 92 cm),structure,scabbard and decoration) as they were the latest yataghan model produced in Turkey (late 19th c. to very early 20th). But about width, I have never met anything like this.
In yataghan class, a 5 cms wide chopping machine with a 1 cm back bone is something really unusual. I will wait for any challenger for some time before I apply to Guiness :D

[Emanuel]

Hi everyone,

Erlikhan, Zifir, do you have any more information on these very long yataghan with very thick spine and T-hilts? I have one very similar to the one posted by Husar and am curious about it.

The spine on my example is 15mm thick at the base, the blade is 4cm at its widest, and the integral bolster is 3cm thick. The whole thing is 93cm long. The section of the blade starts triangular at the bolster, transitioning to a T until the tip.


Thanks,
Emanuel

[Emanuel]

I'll add a comment Sancar made a while ago on another forum, concerning similar large yataghan:

The reason for its length is, in later periods, yataghans(as other bladed weapons) loose their place as weapons, and become more of an accesory of the local costume. In that period (late 19th-early 20th centuries) they tend to get exagerated with longer blades, bigger ears, deeper curvature etc. Yataghan have never been a cavalry weapon. It was mainly used by Janissaries(infantry), levents(marines) and later by başıbozuks and zeybeks(irregular militia) In 1850s, Ottoman army was already modernized and used cavalry sabers not much different from European counterparts, and sometimes blades that were a mixture of cavalry sabers, Ottoman kilij and mameluke(european blades influenced by Mamluk kilijs) sabers.

I'll also link to another thread on yataghan with T-pommel (http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17790) since it deals with a related topic. I am not much interested in the issue of the pommel; it's the blades that make me wonder.

Emanuel



Emanuel