True Buhkaran sabres are a special breed un to themselves andsomewhat of a mystery.
I know the city night watchmen and day guards within the walls did not wear swords during the later part of the 19th century and it is likey this was the case earlier too so I can only assume at this point in time that the Buhkaran sabres were only in the hands of military forces or men who could afford them and were allowed to wear them.
The below image and the one shown at the top of my grouping above will help seperate the Bukharan sabres from the other larger Afghan or Central Asian cousins such as the one you present AJ.
Philip Tom describes the Bukharan form best. From a post I can not pinpoint at present;
Quote;
"1. The "szabla bukharska" generally has a blade whose width expands just before it meets the handle. (sometimes the effect is subtle because of repeated sharpening, but even in such cases the change in width is apparent when you compare the edge and spine contours) Occasionally, the edge widens out to a short blunted area or "ricasso", a feature seen on many Indian talwars and Afghan puluoar blades. The shashka's curve or contour at the edge tends to maintain a more constant relationship to that of the spine, and a prominent ricasso is generally absent.
2. Bukharska tips are generally more acute than the more deeply radiused edge at the average shashka's point.
3. The hilt of a shaskha is invariably "cleft" with a deep V notch between two "ears" at the pommel. Bukharska hilts are solid and don't expand into these big ears.
4. The mouth of the bukharska scabbard never swallows the hilt of the sword like the majority of shashka scabbards do. The slightly wedge-shaped "nose" of the blade bolster nests in a shallow V shaped cutout in the mouth of the scabbard.
If you look at the closest weapon that incorporates all 4 of the above features which are characteristic of these Turkestan sabers, you come up with ..... the Persian pesh kabz. Imagine that you can inject a curved bladed pesh kabz with steroids, and massage it just a little bit, and you can see how these sabers could come about.
5. Another thing comes to mind: Shashkas for the most part seem to be universally long, the blades generally over 31 inches (unless damaged and re tipped). I have noted a large proportion of bukharskas that tend to be on the short side, well under 30 inches. The shashka is of course a horseman's weapon, so length is important. The peoples of Turkestan had cavalry forces too, but in states such as Bukhara, Samarqand, and Khiva, the rulers fielded infantry forces as well. Admittedly, we do not have complete information yet about the use of these sabers; Herr Rohrer states that the exact manner of attaching the scabbard to the wearer's body was not known. So, further research is needed."Unquote.
Below is an Image from the Moscow Museum or Oriental art.
Descriptions are as follows.
""Bukhara, Uzbekistan. 19th century
Steel, silver gilt, turquoise, bone.
Length 101 cm. Inv. No. 3404 III
Received in 1949 from a private collection.
Steel, velvet, turquoise, bone.
Length 92 cm. Inv. No. 2280
Received in 1930 from a private collection
Steel, turquoise, enamel.
Length 90 cm. lnv.No.3705 III
Received in 1952 from the Hermitage, Leningrad. First publication.
The blades of sabres were made of high-quality steel and often decorated with engraved ornamentation. The scabbards were usually decorated with great lavishness. They were made of precious materials-white or gilded silver adorned with chased or engraved floral patterns. They were also frequently decorated with polychrome enamels and set with precious or semiprecious stones- diamonds, corals and polished turquoise which, according to local beliefs, brought luck.
In the 19th century, cold steel practically lost its primary function as a weapon and became merely an attribute of men's costumes on festive and ceremonial occasion. In the khanates of Bukhara, Kokand and Khiva such sabres were granted as rewards to courtiers and presented as gifts to foreign ambassadors and rulers.""
This image is not to say all Bukharan sabres are stone encrusted beauties (one of which I hope to obtain one day), mine is testament to plainer dress and so far it is of a unique blade profile.
Gav