I believe the seller was correct. The guard was taken from a late 19th century Ottoman military pattern, and the crescent on the pommel is certainly consistent with an Ottoman use as well. There seems to have been a lot of variation and leeway in 19th century military patterns in the Empire and it is a topic I am not familiar with at all. There is a book on Ottoman military sword patterns by Branko Bogdanovic, but it is in Russian and not easily available from major online book retailers.
Teodor
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