Shashka for comments

[Jim McDougall]

While Martin may claim no expertise in shashkas, I think he has brilliantly assessed this example, and excellent suggestion and presentation on the Ottoman motif.
I also claim no particular authority on these, but have of course been engaged in research on them on many occasions in certain degree. I would suggest perhaps that this blade may be from mid 19th into around 1870s and is likely Chechen. Reviewing Askhabov (2001, p.129) an example with blade having somewhat similar paneled fullering is from the aul of Dargo (I believe near Grozny).

I agree that this shashka has been refurbished, and it seems that the ornamentation on the scabbard mounts do appear to be 'copied' as well shown by Martin. I would suggest rather than necessarily being done in Turkey, this may have been completed in the industrious commerce in Tblisi, where many Transcaucasian artisans worked.

I agree also that the decorative design on the blade resembles the kind of fanciful and geometric devices seen on many blades of Chechen regions.
I was noting the several drilled or stamped punctions in the cartouche, and believe the makers in Dargo may have used these as a kind of coded signature if I understand correctly the circumstances there during the Murid Wars. That is of course hypothetical on my part.

Definitely an intriguing example!

[TVV]

Thank you your input Gentlemen,

I also thought about a Central Asian origin of the blade, but the hilt and scabbard are very non-Central Asian, and I am yet to see evidence of Bukharan blades flowing west, as opposed to the other way around which is well documented. Chechen work may be a very good guess, and I will look at Askhabov's book for similar examples. Per Rivkin, Tiflis was indeed a major sword production and trade center, and the script may be in Georgian or an imitation of Georgian. For what it is worth, the sword was collected (and still remains) in the Balkans, so at least the concluding point of its journey is known.

I suspect that if anyone can read the script or at least identify what language it is intended to resemble, it may provide a great clue on the blade's origin.

Teodor

[ArmsAndAntiques]

The more I look at it, the more the fuller design appears Central Asian and in particular Afghan. I've had numerous pulwars with this type of crudely done fuller work. However, I'd agree that the overall shape is more Caucasian than anything else.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by ArmsAndAntiques

The more I look at it, the more the fuller design appears Central Asian and in particular Afghan. I've had numerous pulwars with this type of crudely done fuller work. However, I'd agree that the overall shape is more Caucasian than anything else.

Most interesting observation A&A and sounds like you've had some good exposure to weaponry from these regions. May I ask more about the paluoars you're referring to, any chance of images or examples of this type fuller pattern on them. I've long been curious about just where in Afghanistan these paluoars were produced. My impression has always been they were more Deccani influenced tulwars from Northwest frontier regions.

[ArmsAndAntiques]

Hi Jim,

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of those as I had them several years ago before I began to systematically keep photos of my pieces. However, just a few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend of mine, an Afghan war vet, who picked up some pieces there and if I remember right at least two of the pieces he showed me had similar fullering.

While I can't produce the photos of those Afghan pieces, I would feel that it would be interesting for someone to show a photo of a definite Caucasian origin piece with a similar blade. I also would say that the fuller work trending towards Central Asian, is also supported by Chinese swords with similar fullering as well, something picked up from Persian-Central Asian aesthetics, as Philip Tom has written about quite eloquently.

Best
LL

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by ArmsAndAntiques

Hi Jim,

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of those as I had them several years ago before I began to systematically keep photos of my pieces. However, just a few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend of mine, an Afghan war vet, who picked up some pieces there and if I remember right at least two of the pieces he showed me had similar fullering.

While I can't produce the photos of those Afghan pieces, I would feel that it would be interesting for someone to show a photo of a definite Caucasian origin piece with a similar blade. I also would say that the fuller work trending towards Central Asian, is also supported by Chinese swords with similar fullering as well, something picked up from Persian-Central Asian aesthetics, as Philip Tom has written about quite eloquently.

Best
LL

It would indeed be helpful to have photos of the fullering arrangements from both the paluoars mentioned and of Caucasian examples, but I admit the Chinese aspect is extremely intriguing. Could you say more on which of Philip's works reference these kinds of blades in Chinese swords?

I have come up with something which might lend toward the plausibly Afghan provenance for the blade you have suggested. In considering the rather crude fuller detail I must admit that that would be far out of character of Chechen blades.

That curious device which seems to resemble some kind of bird or other highly stylized image, while reminding me of certain designs from the Caucusus has also brought to mind another region using these kinds of animist pictograph devices. This is the area of Afghanistan now called Nuristan in which the Kafirs occupied. This area was once termed Kafiristan and the native tribes practiced a polytheistic animist religion until they were subjugated by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan in 1896. While they became Muslim, they still carried forth elements of their folk religion and perhaps that may explain the Islamic cartouche coupled with this apparently animist device on the blade.

I have noticed that as you suggest the curvature of some Afghan sabres of shashka form is much the same, and possibly we might find confluence in classification with this Nuristani possibility. I think this could answer in part the provenance of the blade, but the present mounts I believe may still be from Tiblisi (Tiflis)regions and Transcaucasian artisans there.

[TVV]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for keeping the discussion alive. Here are some additional pictures of the blade, showing two decorative panels on both sides, some more detail of the fullering and also the tang.

Regards,
Teodor