Are these historical swords or tourist traps?

[Ian]

Thanks Jim. I've attached a larger picture of the tughra, which also has a date below it. I can read 127"?" which translates into some time in the mid 1850s to mid-1860s (the last number is indistinct). A mid-19th C time frame seems to fit with the Ottoman attribution and much of what has been discussed so far.


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[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Ian

Thanks Jim. I've attached a larger picture of the tughra, which also has a date below it. I can read 127"?" which translates into some time in the mid 1850s to mid-1860s (the last number is indistinct). A mid-19th C time frame seems to fit with the Ottoman attribution and much of what has been discussed so far.


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Thank you for adding the close up Ian! While I am no authority on Islamic arms I have always found them fascinating, and the tughra is one of the elements of Ottoman weapons most intriguing. It seems that would be a great subject for a thread, with weapons bearing these on the blades and attribution.

[ausjulius]

i guess int his category of period fantasy weapons or souvenir weapons we can add the Persian made and indian made of this type, zulfiker swords, the etched bladed swords with iron handles and some other items. these were all souvenirs for tourists of the day

[Ian]

I'm not sure we can classify these two items as cheap knock offs or purely aimed at tourists. Perhaps they are more like pieces made for re-enactors today or for collectors of oriental art and artifacts.

[fennec]

As Ive just described in another post,
Those swords are actually a bit close to a particular kind of short sabers used by algerian navy man in the ottoman era, or "barbary coasts" of algiers. So yeah, that shape/lenght has defiitely an historical use, but those ones could be faked (this engraving of the thurga looks too clean for me, and also, algerians dont show the same allegeance to the ottoman ruler, than the anatolian or balkan people, they consider themselves as allies, not vassals, as exemple, very few official document of this era in algeria shows a thurga).
However, if the date is more than 1830, this couldnt be algerian due to the french colonisation... BUT, from the late 19century, algerians begin to make some decorativ copies, and french cutlery start to copy some algerian/ottoman models too, that they obvioulsy seen in algeria.. so thats probably why you talked about some "french copy" below.
Here is a "real" navy sword from algeria, 17/18century. Change the handle, and you can call it an "algerian nimcha".

Best regards, khaled.