Dear Ariel, I will play devil's advocate
If it has no back edge close to tip, it is shamshir not kilij.
I am looking it again and again and I have a strange feeling. It has all the pieces of an old shamshir but also something is not quite “right”. I am possibly having nightmares and maybe I sound rude but…
a. The side opening of the wood up on the throat looks wrong. It should be wider.
b. The guard is broken in wrong place. Maybe it is upside down?
c. The two fittings with the rings look different of the other fittings, more “cheap” (later?). I cannot imagine anyone to trust these things in a furious horse riding.
My conclusion is that it is an old shamshir that it was wrongly restored and “upgraded” sometime in the last 50 years. Where? Two countries come to my mind Syria and Bulgaria, the later because of the copper used.
I wish to hear that I am totally wrong.
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