Outstanding photos Flavio, and these two really are beauties!!!
That is possibly the nicest gurade I've seen in some time, very crisp and clear etching.
Actually Jeff is more the expert than I on these! and of course Ron, I'm glad to see you come in on this! Thank you for reemphasizing the GG marking and that it is essentially a quality trademark. This always to me recalls the German marking 'eisenhauer' which occurs often on thier blades, and has often been misconstrued as a makers name. It is of course, as those who speak German know, the term for 'iron cutting' and represents the strength and quality of the blade. I have even seen the representative term for 'iron cutting' employed on Chinese blades, where it occurred in Chinese characters and I was quite surprised to see that in translation!
If I am not mistaken, blades in Solingen, this most likely being an example, were produced by various makers and often etched and decorated by the exporters who furnished the blades to trade markets. The Wilkinson blades that are distinctly marked were from arrangements that took place early in the 20th century, much of the product prior to that via subcontractors, Mole in particular.
The yataghan is a very nice example, and I hope we can get some discussion going. The conundrum of whether a yataghan is Turkish, Balkan or even Greek I dont think has ever been satisfactorily resolved, at least as far as I know, and I would sure like to know more about the differences.
The games afoot guys!!!!
All the best,
Jim