Two Salawar yataghans - khyber knives

ariel · 1st March 2008, 11:38 PM

Prince Harry with his Queen English was just pulled out of Afghanistan.
The remains, with plain brains, speak Cockney

Jim McDougall · 2nd March 2008, 02:15 AM

So does anyone have any thoughts on why these were called Salawar Yataghans? or where the term might have originated?

Jeff Pringle · 3rd March 2008, 07:49 AM

At an auction last year, one of these caused a bit of a stir. It had a metal hilt with fairly intact original koftgari, and a blade (that looked to me to be) of high-quality wootz although that was not called out in the description or immediately obvious in the hand, the blade having been cleaned up with abrasives but not re-etched. Unfortunately, the blade was afflicted with not just spots of rust, but craters that went half-way through the blade in places.

Despite those blemishes, bidding in the room quickly took it up to somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand dollars, and then continued between two telephone bidders all the way to 7 K. So there was a nice, long stretch where everyone in the room was out of the game and could only watch, with ever increasing awe & incredulity as the price climbed and the bidding rhythm slowed, until the hammer finally fell and they could get on with their auction.
There was one of those ‘collective sighs of relief’ moments when one of the two bidders finally gave up.
Nice knife!

3rd March 2008, 07:49 AM	#3
Jeff Pringle Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 189	At an auction last year, one of these caused a bit of a stir. It had a metal hilt with fairly intact original koftgari, and a blade (that looked to me to be) of high-quality wootz although that was not called out in the description or immediately obvious in the hand, the blade having been cleaned up with abrasives but not re-etched. Unfortunately, the blade was afflicted with not just spots of rust, but craters that went half-way through the blade in places. Despite those blemishes, bidding in the room quickly took it up to somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand dollars, and then continued between two telephone bidders all the way to 7 K. So there was a nice, long stretch where everyone in the room was out of the game and could only watch, with ever increasing awe & incredulity as the price climbed and the bidding rhythm slowed, until the hammer finally fell and they could get on with their auction. There was one of those ‘collective sighs of relief’ moments when one of the two bidders finally gave up. Nice knife! Attached Images

1st March 2008, 11:38 PM	#1
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Prince Harry with his Queen English was just pulled out of Afghanistan. The remains, with plain brains, speak Cockney

2nd March 2008, 02:15 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,509	So does anyone have any thoughts on why these were called Salawar Yataghans? or where the term might have originated?