I have this 19th century ottoman shamshir. It has a rather common makers mark and a lion carved in the blade. It has been discussed several times on the forum and I have read Olivers article
http://auctionsimperial.com/om-the-p...f-assad-allah/.
I do not however know what the text in the lion says. Any guesses? I does not quite look like the exampel in Olivers article.
EDIT: looked deeper in the forum and found this thread:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=assad+allah
Looks to me like its says "Assad Allah" like in that exampel from that thread, only mine looks kinda crude compared to that one