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Old 21st February 2006, 09:25 AM   #13
erlikhan
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Istanbul
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The blade itself can be old too,no problem with that.There can be a simple, undecorated old yatagan blade,even with a damaged hilt. That old blade can have its original scabbard wreck with old wood too. We see hundreds of them. They can be upgraded chiselling the blade, making a new hilt, covering the scabbard with new leather, silver or brass etc. A skillful metal artist doesnt have to use modern production methods to make such upgrades, and he must not use them. Look at the chiselling on the blade. it is too shallowly chiselled into the steel and drawn with no or very little attention.If an artist of Ottoman time did that work, he would have to look for a new job in a short time. There are many masters who would do much better even in today's souvenir focused traditional arts production centers like Syria,Iran or Gaziantep in Turkey and would not cost much.The easiest way possible to restore an old blade in a rich looking illusion. The scabbard's brass or copper work is like that too. Doesn't reflect the quality and nobility of past's skills at all. It tries to give a rich impression as if too much effort and care was spent to produce it,but in fact the reverse.
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