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#1 | |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND
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However it is the sword itself that interests me, and it is the origin of that which i would like to establish. The sword handle is silver by the way. Stu |
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#2 |
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To clarify what I am trying to establish, herewith is a pic of the sword without the scabbard (which has been correctly described as a "bitser").
The handle is silver and is decorated extensively. As can be seen from the other pics, the handle is of the "eared" type, and has the letters A.C stamped into it. So can anyone please tell me if this sword is Caucasian, Khyber or Bukhara, or some other type. Stu |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Russia, Moscow
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This sword, without reservation, is Caucasian. I really like his hilt. I saw exactly the same thing at the Russian Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg. I think this handle is made in Tiflis, Georgia. The letters AC are the hallmark of the Assay Chamber inspector.
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#4 | |
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Stu |
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#5 |
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To me, the blade looks very different from the typical blades used in the Caucasian or Russian shashkas.
I also checked with the examples in Kiril Rivkin's book but didn't find a match... Also, the hilt is significantly wider than the blade which I consider a clear indication they were matched together in a later marriage... ![]() |
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#6 | |
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Location: Russia, Moscow
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#7 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
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I could not find anything similar in any of Rivkin’s books, in any edition of Astvatsaturyan’s book, or in a book ( album, essentially) of the Russian Ethnographic Museum.
It is possible that the latter does not show the entire exhibition or of the storage. If so, I would appreciate seeing a picture with the label and/or provenance. It should be mentioned that quite a lot of examples presented in their album are grossly mislabeled. I remember a discussion on the Russian Forum about it with multiple concerns. The publisher/editor agreed with the reaction but had 2 explanations: publishing team had no time for any review and they had to use museum labels. Pretty flimsy, isn’t it ? Assay chamber stamps used initials of the inspector, a symbol ( female head or a coat of arms of a city where it was assayed) and the purity of silver. I am unaware of any official stamps with Cyrillic “AC” and no other official information required by law from the imperial assay inspectors. АС cannot be an abbreviation of Assaying Chamber: Russians did not call it as such in English. In Russian it was Probirnaya Palata. I am certain you are unlikely to argue that the vastly different styles of decoration of the handle, suspension element/chape and throat indicate haphazard assembly. The “ edge down” mode of suspension is also not Caucasian. In summary, I see nothing Caucasian in the final product, and the “dog breakfast” of parts ( including conceivably even the blade, with which you hesitantly agree) do not give me any faith in the authenticity of this chimera of a shashka. Last edited by ariel; 21st February 2020 at 04:07 AM. |
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