Persian (?) shamshir.

ariel · 22nd February 2020, 06:18 PM

Interesting one.
Very nice wootz , unfortunately quite rusty in areas.

I am not concerned with authenticity and respectable age, but there are intriguing inconsistencies (?):

The blade has several narrow fullers interspersed with flat areas: this was often seen on Afghani blades.
The koft is pretty crude, and Persians were very careful
The upper part of the blade has silver koft, not typical for Persia, but very frequent on Arabian ( especially Syrian ) ones.
The upper langet is surrounded by wire (?), - another Arabian feature.
The pommel is downturned, yet another North Arabian, Bedawi, feature.

I tend to think that it might be an Afghani blade, decorated and mounted in the Syrian part of the Ottoman Empire. Why not vice versa? Because carving an entire fuller array would be a major undertaking, while applying koft is a no brainer.

I would be generous with WD-40 to remove any rust.

BTW, a question: would anyone use Rust Converter here? There are multiple pits with active rust and there is no chance one can remove it piece by piece. Or, treatment with tannic acid would destroy wootz appearance? After all, acid etching is in fact a controlled rusting.

22nd February 2020, 06:18 PM	#2
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Interesting one. Very nice wootz , unfortunately quite rusty in areas. I am not concerned with authenticity and respectable age, but there are intriguing inconsistencies (?): The blade has several narrow fullers interspersed with flat areas: this was often seen on Afghani blades. The koft is pretty crude, and Persians were very careful The upper part of the blade has silver koft, not typical for Persia, but very frequent on Arabian ( especially Syrian ) ones. The upper langet is surrounded by wire (?), - another Arabian feature. The pommel is downturned, yet another North Arabian, Bedawi, feature. I tend to think that it might be an Afghani blade, decorated and mounted in the Syrian part of the Ottoman Empire. Why not vice versa? Because carving an entire fuller array would be a major undertaking, while applying koft is a no brainer. I would be generous with WD-40 to remove any rust. BTW, a question: would anyone use Rust Converter here? There are multiple pits with active rust and there is no chance one can remove it piece by piece. Or, treatment with tannic acid would destroy wootz appearance? After all, acid etching is in fact a controlled rusting.