Interesting to see these type Afghan swords come up, and well observed by Dom in post #5...there is indeed a powerful similitude in the sword in the photo to these.
I first noticed the same when I acquired one of these some years ago and saw this photo in a book titled "Northwest Frontier" (Arthur Swinson, 1967).
The tall man in the photo wearing the similar hilt sword is General Daod Shah, a Ghilzai tribesman and the commander in chief for Amir Mohammed Yukub Khan of Afghanistan. The photo was May of 1879 at the signing of the Treaty of Gandamak, which unfortunately did not cease hostilities forthwith.
While this particular sword has considerable embellishment, many Afghan swords, especially of this type, were stamped with a cartouche containing the mosque and mihrab facing Mecca. Though presumed to represent the Blue Mosque at Mazir i Sharif that is not definitively established, and most of the dates on the swords with the stamp range from c.1893 into 1904 with many undated.
The mosque image became the official device on the Afghan flag around 1901 but was clearly used during the reigh of Abdur Rahman Khan from 1880 unti, his death in 1901....under his son Habibullah Khan the flag was designed and used until end of the 3rd Anglo-Afghan war 1919.
During the conflicts and into the 3rd Anglo Afghan war, many of these type swords were in use, many refurbished either in the Kabul armoury and many by the tribal lashkars which augmented the regular Afghan army. This is likely the reason a number of these kinds of hilts are found on the familiar Khyber knife blades.
It will be interesting to know more on the date shown here as the character of the embellishment suggests possible influential status for this sword.
|