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Old 23rd January 2013, 09:21 PM   #4
Jim McDougall
Arms Historian
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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This is the royal Afghan stamp, and the image actually represents the Sacred Shrine at the 'Blue Mosque' at Mazir i Sharif.
This is one of the increasingly familiar hybrid swords with the Anglo-Afghan military hilt of the 1880s and the Khyber knife type blade.
These weapons are typically from the reign of Emir Abdur Rahman (1898-1901) primarily, and were produced at the Kabul State Arsenal, or Mashin Khana.
The script below the image of the Mosque is characteristically a date, most of these will be c.1898-1901.
These are fascinating items from regions with troubled and dramatic history which of course extends into the present day.
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