In viewing the most interesting inscriptions on this yataghan, and particularly the 'anchor' symbol, I am finding far more questions than answers. It would appear to me that the anchor is contemporary to the inscription, and of course the compelling indication is that this suggests maritime association.
As Dom has noted as can be seen, the inscription is not in Arabic, and I am wondering if this might be in either Balkan, Albanian or Greek alphabets. I am far from any linguistic skills so that is obviously a guess. The 'tughra' does not appear to be entirely that either, though the symbol is loosely in the style of these sultanate symbols. The hancer and beyze are present, but if enclosed is a date, that seems unusual as typically it is the sultans name.
When first seeing the anchor my thoughts were of the 'mariners cross' or St. Clements cross, which are of course Christian symbols, and wondered why would that be present in context with a 'tughra' in an Ottoman weapon. I thought perhaps this may be a Balkan weapon, the script of one of the alphabets among these regions and the St. Clements cross an Orthodox symbol with a tughra style element in the grouping.
Pure speculation clearly, but hopefully thoughts that might bring forward better suggestions from our knowledgeable membership more familiar with these areas.
Attached is the martyrdom of St. Clement in 102AD, in which he was tied to an anchor and drowned in the Black Sea. As can be seen the similarity in the early form anchor. It seems that anchors in these forms have been used as makers marks and talismanic symbols on European blades, but have not found examples which are not in cross form and open like this.
All best regards,
Jim
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