The “ regulation Khyber Knife” in the Afghani Army at end of the 19th – beginning of

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you so much for the very kind recognition Dmitry, it was of course my pleasure to offer any assistance. I would like to congratulate you as well on a brillantly composed article on these intriguing edged weapons, which truly have deserved far more attention than they have ever received.

I would like to thank those who have responded with added observations and detail to further advance our knowledge toward better identification and understanding of these arms. I sincerely hope others reading here will continue that course.

Very best regards,
Jim

[Sajen]

Thank you very much for your research. It's not my area of collecting but I have read it with great interest!

Detlef

[mahratt]

Many thanks to all for the nice words for me! I appreciate your opinion, dear forum members! Thank you again!

[Richard G]

I have, on occasion, seen the nucklebow hilted short sabre, or very similar, described as Persian and even Turkish. Were these misattributions of a type produced only in Afghanistan? or were they also produced and used in other armies of the region?
Best wishes
Richard

[mahratt]

Dear Richard

Descriptions of many of these items and they are often different. My opinion is that the diversity of descriptions - from ignorance (I apologize for the harshness of my words)..
It is understood that the items with afghan stamps - are made and used in Afghanistan. Although, I'm sure that many of these items to other countries as trophies.

It would be easier to talk, discussing a specific item.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Richard G

I have, on occasion, seen the nucklebow hilted short sabre, or very similar, described as Persian and even Turkish. Were these misattributions of a type produced only in Afghanistan? or were they also produced and used in other armies of the region?
Best wishes
Richard

Richard, when these first entered the collectibles market (it seems around 20 years ago...I think I got my example around 1999), a few of them appeared in several mail order catalogs with some very odd attributions. I think one was captioned as a 'Greek cutlass'!
Over following years it seems one caption claimed one of these was Spanish and the stamp was of the 'pillars of Hercules'!

These often bizarre attributions have often been seen on numerous ethnographic weapons over the years, and many of them have been properly identified here on these pages, which is in essence why we are here These discussions have all been fascinating, and Dmitry's work here is a perfect example of such outstanding arms study.
As far asI have known, these 'regulation' type swords were only ever produced for use in Afghanistan for use in thier army.

[Oriental-Arms]

I Know Dima for quite some time and I am familiar with his passion for Afghan blades. Hence I am not surprised it resulted in this thorough article. Congratulation Dima. I salute you.

[Richard G]

Thank you Mahratt and Jim,
I agree, as no examples of the short sabre have surfaced that can definitely be attributed to jurisdictions other than Afghanistan, it seems sensible to regard them all as Afghan; and as Mahratt postulates, derived from the Khyber knife.
However I have another question. Who were these issued to? They are obviously too short for cavalry and presumably already obsolete for regular infantry use by the end of the 19th century. In Europe or India it would be assumed they were for artillery or police or similar paramilitaries that used a cutlass rather than a sword.
Regards
Richard