Indeed it is great to see this discourse return to the now apparent diversion to this fascinating study of Bukharen and Afghan swords, which in itself is probably one of the most esoteric areas of the edged weapons on Central Asia.
It is almost unfortunate that this particular discussion has begun under the title of the original post which pertains to the distinguished Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin, as these swords certainly deserve their own titled thread to bring in broader interest in their study.
Meanwhile, I am very grateful for all of the fantastic pictures of these swords and the most interesting attention to their features and details.
I would have to agree however, that this curious debate over the number of rivets or their size is to me fully specious. While there are seemingly some preponderances such as five rivets placed on the Bukharen sabres as appeared in Mr. Flindt's venerable article, he did note potential variances.
As far as I can imagine, the development and production of these types of saber (Bukharen) and the cleft pommel shashka like versions attributed to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are so predisposed to cross diffusion that most finite attribution is unlikely, if not nearly impossible.
As I have mentioned many times, as Mr. Flindt once said to me, weapons have NO geographic boundaries.
This was noted in what became a rather inconclusive struggle to classify one of these 'shashkas' as either Uzbek or Afghan about 18 years ago.
While it I was once told that the Bukharen sabre had of course nothing to do with the shashka, it remains seemingly likely that the profound Russian presence in these regions in the times of the "Great Game" (c. 1813-1907) certainly may have influenced these Uzbek and Afghan sabres with the distinct cleft pommels.
The Khanate of Bukhara was of course situated in Uzbekistan in the 18th century, and Uzbekistan included a notable part of Northern Afghanistan until the mid 19th century. As most of these sword forms evolved in these particular times amidst all of this geopolitical turmoil, then it seems almost futile to assign a distinct classification and pattern of features responsibly to any of them unless using other mitigating factors in their decoration etc.
What remains undisputed regardless, is that these 'Central Asian' sabres are some of the most intriguing, beautiful and exciting swords in the spectrum of the sabre.
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