2 Yatagans for comment
 

As previously said I don't know a lot about sword .
This is 2 Yatagans (if I 'm not wrong )from my collection .
I only want to know if they are good collectable Items for a sword collector.
Any comment are welcome.
Regards

Cerjak

second one smaller
 

second one

No, they are NOT collectable. They are Chinese junk.
I am ready to take them off your hands right away.


:-)

File Under
 

Magnificent piece !
The engraving is beautiful .











Ariel, may I have the email address of this Chinese Faker please . :p

really !
 

I so stupid ,before to post I have forget to remove the serail number !!
So you know that I still have 1877 units available and I could supply you easily!!
CERJAK

The first yataghan is a magnificent piece, thanks for sharing. The style of the ears, encased in silver places it to the Western Balkans. 1878 was the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which marked the liberation of Bulgaria and the independence of Serbia and Montenegro, with the latter two countries getting significant territorial gains. The elaborate scabbard and hilt may have been comissioned to mark this event by a participant in this war, most likely from Montenegro. We will never know, but it is fun to speculate.
Regards,
Teodor

Lovely, lovely pieces.

May I ask, how do they feel in the hand? At first blush, the ears on the 1878 piece "look" like they might be uncomfortable, but that is based on simply looking at them and having no experience with yataghans.

(Is there an accepted transliteration for these? With H or without?)

The short yataghan-style knife is referred as Marine-yataghan by most Balkan dealers,(maybe because of his size) but also as belosapac bichaq or bicak. personally I believe that they are knives carried by christians in the Balkan areas, as ottoman laws forbidded christians to carry yats or swords with long blades.(only blades as long as the opening of a human hand).
The metal hilt yathagan dated 1878 seems greek to me, because of the decorations especially the female figure on the scabbard. Most of our Balkan edged weapons dated 1878-1890(mainly 1878) are made in Bosnia, and clearly different in style to your yat.This one has indeed Balkan style ears, but nothing else in common with belosapac yataghans made in Boka Kotorska, Foca, Uzice etc
1878 was also the year of a forgotten war, the "pacification of Bosnia", when austro hungarian units (also troops from my hometown) fought the patriots of Bosnia and occupied the former ottoman sandjak .

thank you
 

Again a lot of knowing that will help to have more knowledge on those sword history
Thank you SERGIU&TTV

Hello. for large giatagan would say definitely that are from GREECE, the decoration on the handle and the bag is identical to that of northern Greece. the short giatagan except that the reference call it navy and was one of the weapons that were the Christians in the Balkans.

Cerjak

They are both beautiful.

Roy

PS

Please send me the other 1,877 !!!!

Lewis, i can assure you that yataghans with balkan style ears fit great in the hand when using the weapon for his main purpose, slashing and chopping.there is a specific way to hold the grip.Also when stuck between ribs or other bones the form of the ears helps to extract the blade. One more use for the big ears of the yataghan grip- when the arnautka or tancica long rifle needs to be fired, simply stick your yataghan into the ground put the barrel between the ears and let them support the barrel for greater accuracy.

My favorite is the silver yat - but I am partial to Balkan yats anyway with bling. :D

Now that fascinates me... :)

I have a collapsable monopod purpose-built for the same reason, and this is admittedly the first instance I've heard of the shallow groove between the ears of a yat being used for this function. Very cool... and beautiful, the both of them.

I agreed, I think is Greek.
Look these 2 photos of a Greek Kilij with very similar decoration and the crown of King George I of Greece. (1863-1913)

Many thanks.

While the style of engraving is definetely looking like Greek works of the same era, i do not think this is Greek.
The reason is the female figure depicted.
This figure is supposed to represent godess AThena, so even in its naif form of represantation it needs to have a helmet and a shiled together with the spear. (See other examples below). Also is not likely to be depicted breast naked, although in one of the photos (on the musket) looks naked in a less obvious way.
This figure looks more like a tribal female warrior from some African tribe!
I find it hard to believe that a silver artist as well as his client were so iliterate to accept such a representation, especially in 1870s, where Greece was almost 50 years free, and schooling and education gave a more clear picture about ancient Greece.
My thinking is that is made by a non-Greek Balkan artist, who has seen a work with godess AThena depicted, and copied the style and the godess in a very vague way, without knowing the meaning and the symbolism of the figure.

kalispera Eftihis,
now you have a point here,and you might be right,maybe a forgotten engraver artist from skodra or elbasan tried to copy the greek style female figure and came up with this ...
the examples in your pics especially the last one with the kariophili stock were very convincing.