Thank you Erik,
One thing is clear an that is that this is a very nice yataghan, but you already knew that. The hilt is of walrus ivory and of a shape, that is sometimes seen fitted with a shortened Western smallsword blade. I have seen suggestions that these were an Ottoman version of the dirk for naval use.
The blade is of a type, which the Russian scholar Astvatsaturian attributes to coming from Western Anatolia or the Eastern Caucasus, though I personally doubt this attribution, as the vast majority of these blades that I have seen have Greek silver fittings.
Identifying yataghans is always tricky, as there is not an in depth reference on them, and the existing catalogues simply describe the physical attributes of museum examples without any attempts at geographic classification. On top of that, it is not uncommon for blades forged in one area of the Ottoman Empire to be hilted in another.
Regards,
Teodor
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