Hello Prichardus, and welcome to our forum!!!
These items you have posted are Persian, and as noted, are actually in this case parade items from the Qajar dynasty in Iran (1794-1925). There is reference to these being Qajar 'revival' pieces, and I would note that this is a term often used by collectors with reference to certain Persian swords of early Arab form, suggesting a revival of these traditional types. During the 19th century there were of course powerful geopolitical circumstances constantly present. During diplomatic ceremonies and negotiations and events bolstering national pride and patriotism it was of course important to have strong showing of military force and tradition. These kinds of parade weapons were key elements for these situations.
I would presume these examples to be probably mid 19th century, and often Indo-Persian attribution is used as these same forms were favored in India by Mughal courts.
The axe is termed a 'tabar' , a traditional battle axe, these had smaller versions termed 'tabarzin' which translated loosely into saddle axe.
The interesting mace is one termed the 'demons head' and called a 'gorz'.
These are described in Stone (1934, p.421) and North (1985, p.42-44) where it is noted by North that these were typically 18-19th century and intended for parade use. Many of these were also in the form of bullheads. One of these demon head form maces is found in the Victoria & Albert Museum (67-1889).
The last item is a Persian version of the polearms known as military forks used in Europe in the 16th-18th centuries, with this example also a parade item of 19th century. The Persian examples of these are with two flukes as seen here, and the blades are typically wavy. There are examples of these in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul.
While these are ceremonial or parade weapons of most likely mid 19th century, they represent traditional weapons actual used by Persian armies and are impressively produced in these examples.
Again, welcome to the forum, and I look forward to more posts with interesting items for discussion.
All very best regards,
Jim
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