New sword, Bosnia?

[Nagawarrior]

Originally Posted by ariel

Now, with better details, I can only join the Ottoman/ Balkan voters.

As to 1581.... No way ! That would put it next in line to Met/Topkapi yataghans :-)

Perhaps its just a number, not a date. 1000 goats taken. :-) Who knows.

[gp]

interesting "discussion"even 11 years ago

I think Balkan and looking at the scabbard and hilt might even be narrowed down to southern parts of the former Yugoslavia
I have got a knife / small bichaq with the same grip / hilt : white bone and same circular decoration.
The decoration on the blade looks most interesting: I only have seen similar on small hunting pen or clasp knives

[gp]

enclosed the pictures of the bichaq from Croatia and 2 from Bosnia with similar decoration, so you can compare.
when I look at the grip / hilt of what the owner calls "sword", I would not call it a yataghan, but looks more like the long bichaqs of 40 cm

as for the grip/handle / hilt: the types for the bichaqs were derived from the several types yataghans in the Ottoman empire and found on the Balkans; from Makedonia, Bulgaria, parts of what is now known as Greece ( as the Greek world was way bigger than the present state!) through Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, Dalmatia and parts of Croatia...numbers 14 and 18 come close to the above "sword"

I would recommend cleaning the metal of the knife and scabbard either with some colorless olive oil and the leather as well or with some other leather prerserving material ( like for ancient saddle and saddle bags) to stop further deterioration and restore it a little to its former beauty

[Interested Party]

GP, I really like that diagram of handle patterns! I am sure you have given this source material before, but which book did it come from? In what language is it written? Does it have profile views of the handles also?

Thanks,
IP

[gp]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

GP, I really like that diagram of handle patterns! I am sure you have given this source material before, but which book did it come from? In what language is it written? Does it have profile views of the handles also?

Thanks,
IP

yes I did, sadly no profile views. It comes from an Austrian Habsburg K.u.K. book in German "Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina"