Shashka, for comments; Dagestan?
 

The vendor referred to this as a Dagestan/Russian Shashka/Cavalry Sword. It is certainly from the Caucuses, but can it associated with Dagestan with any real confidence? He also said that the date in Hidzhra Arabic numbers, was the equivalent of 1897. Can any one confirm that, or give me readings of any of the other etched writing? It is my understanding that, being ethnically very heterogeneous, Dagestan is more of a territory than a nation and as such was passed back and forth between Persia and Russia several times, with Russia winning the final contest around 1813. So Dagestan would certainly have been a Russian territory in 1897, but presumably some power was delegated to local authorities. Would that have included auxiliary cavalry?

There is no date visible in the photos. The pommel is contemporary Georgian work.
There are a number of inaccuracies regarding the ethnic and political history of Daghestan in what you wrote.

Edify me please.

I suspect that Oliver's answer might be quite short. After all, we cannot expect a 50 page dissertation published on the Forum.

If you are interested in Caucasian and Daghestani history and weapons, get yourself a book by Kirill Rivkin "Arms and armor of the Caucasus" ( it is on Amazon and often appears on e-bay). There you will find everything and more. Another source is a book by Leslie Blanch " The swords of paradise" , which is a history of Russian Caucasian War. It reads like a thriller, you will not be able to put it aside ( I started to read it on Friday and could not fall asleep till late Sunday!)

Also, a new ( and fantastic!) book by Isa and Khamzat Askhabovs ( father and son), "Searching for lost relics", both in Russian and in English. They scoured Europe and the US to find "lost" examples of Caucasian weapons that left Russia after the revolution and are preserved in private collections.
Contact the distributor and order
https://antikvariat.ru/
If you fail there, Michael Shamansky can order one for you ( I am almost sure)
michael@artbooks.com

Good luck and good reading!