[gp]

I just recceived them yesterday; as I thought..they were in poor condition, very dirty.
It took some time to get the dirt of it, next to the fact that due to poor storage and the copper ornaments being close together, the corrossion / oxidation went unfortunately also deep into the white bone grip.
Although I could clean some of it during a few days and using several methods, still some green contamination remained. I do not want to "clean" them any further as it might have a negative impact on the structure of the bone and cause other unwanted damage....I added some other forks to compare the looks from a color perspective

The green color of the knife above # 19 is just a layer added to the bone hilt, which is normal applied to the Bosnian small knives and bichaqs and sold to dignitaries or tourist after the occupation and later annexation by Austria in 1878. No green ones before that period during the Ottoman rule...

Root cause for this dark green in # 19 was simple another form of decoration but no other reason ; you can peel it of. A couple of damaged pieces on green ones I have show this clearly. nothing of the latter can be found in the literature of the last 200 years and nor have yataghans ever been made in that color ; only the bjelo (white) and crno (black) ones....

With literature I mean not only the Western literature but also the literature from the Balkan countries since 1878.

Remarkable with this set is the fact that although the total lenght is the same, the fork piece versus the blade is not. Something which doesn't occur in this way with the other sets from the handle / grip lenght ( knife gripis almost half the fork grip lenght)