Interesting Ottoman (?) Knife!

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Jim, what this Bosnian gentleman had was a set of six matched knives and forks which he said dated from about 1930. He also had two or three small general purpose knives. The cutlery had plain blades, the one of GP knives had some simple blade engraving similar to what I can see on this blade here discussed.

The handles on all the pieces --- knives, forks, GP knives -- were all of exactly the same style as I see here, that is they were horn, planar, curled pommel, inlaid in the same design and style. On one of the GP knives the curled pommel had been given the shape of (I think) a bird's head.

In short, they looked extremely similar to what I see here, but none had blade piercing.


As you know, this sort of thing is not my field, even though I have collected edged weaponry other than keris during the entire period I have had an interest in keris. I am not in any way attempting to convince anybody that the knife pictured here is Bosnian, quite frankly it is of very little interest to me where it might come from. I am only providing the information that I have seen pieces that bear a very close resemblance to this knife that were identified as Bosnian by a person from Bosnia.

Hi Alan,
Thank you for responding to my question, and I knew you were providing the information as evidential for perspective on assessment on this hilt style.
The reason I asked about the openwork was of course to determine if either other regions had adopted similar openwork via trade contacts, or perhaps if the knives might have been misidentified by the informant.
I very much appreciate the input, and always consider all information as important in comprehensive research on any weapon. It often amazes me how many key clues have turned up in the most unusual context, and as often as not , far outside the fields where I have been searching.
Your experience and knowledge is in no way confined to a single field, no matter what you say !!! and thank you for always sharing.

All the very best,
Jim