Islamic dagger with gold inscription

[Yannis]

Very nice and unusual dagger. It has a certain Bosnian look. I can read only the date 1299 that is 1882 in Gregorian calentar. What is the material of the hilt? Bone or ivory?

[eftihis]

It is ivory, with inserts of small corall pieces and brass nails. Also the green "ring" near the blade in stained green ivory. I bought it under the description "arab dagger", but it is true that the brass dots remid me bosnia. Not the scabbard thought.

[Battara]

Yeah, I'm thinking Bosnian as well. Shame I can't read Arabic.

[Raja Muda]

Gentlemen,

After looking through the inscription, I've ruled out Arabic. I've attempted a reading but since the Arabic alphabet makes do with very little vowels, the actual pronunciation might be distorted. Hope someone with a knowledge of Turkish or Balkan languages can take it from here:

'Aqladan harsako yardawud foce Mustafa lataik sanat 1299'

At least we've identified the name Mustafa (who could either be the craftsman responsible or the owner) and the hegira year of 1299. Someone will have to check the corresponding gregorian year.

best wishes

[erlikhan]

knife is Bosnian, but the scabbard most probably not original.not style of that knife. old but a replacement. perhaps by a bayonet leather? the tip mounting of the scabbard is a bad later repair too. but koftgari on the blade is very beautiful sample. Inscription can be Turkish or one of Bosnian and Albanian languages which has Turkish words in them. One thing is clear . Assuming the wowels are not proper, it writes "Hersek" , Herzegovina was called "Hersek" in Ottoman period. and, "yardavud" could be instead "arnavud" , which means "Albanian". Can be roughly something like "Albanian Mustafa from Herzegovina made(sanat) in 1299".
Raja Muda, did you put the vowels according to the translation or just guessing so?

[Conogre]

Perhaps a dumb question, but what does the "end" of the hilt look like?
From the first time I looked at this something about the blade shape, scabbard and "chappe"(?) end piece has been nagging at me.......I think it's a straight bladed variant of a yatagan, which would be entirely appropriate for the area.
Mike

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by Conogre

Perhaps a dumb question, but what does the "end" of the hilt look like?
From the first time I looked at this something about the blade shape, scabbard and "chappe"(?) end piece has been nagging at me.......I think it's a straight bladed variant of a yatagan, which would be entirely appropriate for the area.
Mike

Mike
I have not seen it closely, but I am almost sure that it is not a split pommel if this you mean. I think hilt has this “bird head” end, that is also very common in the area. We dont call it yataghan.

[Kamil]

Originally Posted by erlikhan

knife is Bosnian, but the scabbard most probably not original.not style of that knife. old but a replacement. perhaps by a bayonet leather? the tip mounting of the scabbard is a bad later repair too. but koftgari on the blade is very beautiful sample. Inscription can be Turkish or one of Bosnian and Albanian languages which has Turkish words in them. One thing is clear . Assuming the wowels are not proper, it writes "Hersek" , Herzegovina was called "Hersek" in Ottoman period. and, "yardavud" could be instead "arnavud" , which means "Albanian". Can be roughly something like "Albanian Mustafa from Herzegovina made(sanat) in 1299".
Raja Muda, did you put the vowels according to the translation or just guessing so?

Hi Erlikhan,
Just some thoughts: there are some problems with this reading:
1. "Sanat" (lit. "sana"), when written under the date, is definitely an Arabic word and means "year"; it cannot be understood as "made";
What about the first word? It can be also "akildan", "aklidan" etc. (ak-l-d-n)
3. the relevant part of the text cannot be "yardavud"; there is written:
h-r-s-k-w-i-n-d-a-w-d-f-w-ch-e(?)
where "w" can be Turkish "o", "u" or "v";
of course this phrase can contain several words, eg:
h-r-s-k-w-i-n-d a-w-d-f-w-ch-e(?)
h-r-s-k-w i-n-d-a-w-d-f-w-ch-e(?)
i-n-d a-w-d f-w ch-e(?)
etc.
maybe it can be Hersekvinde? But I don't know, how the ending -de/-da was written in the Ottoman times and if the name Hersekvin was also used, or Hersek only?
Greetings
Kamil