Afghan military saber for translation request

RSWORD · 23rd December 2011, 01:11 AM

This is an interesting sword. It is an Afghan sword, in the military style of the late 19th to turn of the century, featuring a wootz guard, wootz tang band and the top scabbard mount is wootz. The blade is a very bold and nice pattern weld. There are a number of "seals", stamps and inscriptions I was hoping to receive some information and translation assistance with. Thank you in advance.

AJ1356 · 23rd December 2011, 01:53 PM

A very peculiarly interesting sword, ofcourse it does have a governmental seal.(why it is engraved not stamped

)
On the inscription if you can get it one line at a time i can get it translated for you (the reflection is not helping). on the date it say - fee sanat hijree 1298
في سنة هجري ۱۲۹۸ , now that is in Arabic meaning { In hijree year of 1298} why would they write it in Arabic, that is why i said peculiar. Why would an Afghan governmental sword have Arabic writings it baffles me. Now the year , right now it is 1390 HS (solar) and 1433 HQ (lunar), The mark is from the time of Nader or Zaher shah, maybe Amanullah.That would put us at most to 1918, the sword is around 92 years old (if we go the solar way), which would put up around 1913. Amanullah came to power around 1918. I have not seen Habibullah's swords to be of that style, or that seal.

Correction: i just noticed that I calculated wrong, the age is right at 92 years, which puts it at 1919 which is right for Amanullah's period.

Dom · 24th December 2011, 12:35 AM

Salamam Aleikum ya AJ1356

I may said, that the cartouches aren't in Arabic
might be, in "patchoun" or "farsi" , I dunno

concerning the date,
it's correct to translate the mention (it's possible to translate by Arabic, due might be to some similitudes)
FI SANA HEGIRE 1298 either IN THE YEAR OF HEGIRE 1298 ... either 1880 Gregorian

à +

Dom

Rick · 24th December 2011, 12:41 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War

Dom · 24th December 2011, 12:59 AM

Thanks Rick

I'm mistaken , if I said, "great similitude" between the two swords ?

à +

Dom

AJ1356 · 24th December 2011, 02:09 AM

DOM, the cartouches are not in Arabic but the date is written in Arabic, which is why I said it is peculiar. Also if we go the Lunar way and put the age at 1880 something (don't remember what year you wrote) then it makes the sword more suspect. Because the seal we have on the sword and this style of swords are after the 3rd Anglo-Afghan wars, which puts us at around 1919 or newer.

That seal was first used by King Amanullah who became king in 1919 and subsequently started the modernization and standardization of the country and army, plus getting closer to the Ruskies, unfortunately that was his downfall since it pissed off the Brits and they used the mullahs to bring him down.

23rd December 2011, 01:11 AM	#1
RSWORD Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,083	Afghan military saber for translation request This is an interesting sword. It is an Afghan sword, in the military style of the late 19th to turn of the century, featuring a wootz guard, wootz tang band and the top scabbard mount is wootz. The blade is a very bold and nice pattern weld. There are a number of "seals", stamps and inscriptions I was hoping to receive some information and translation assistance with. Thank you in advance. Attached Images

23rd December 2011, 01:53 PM	#2
AJ1356 Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nashville Posts: 314	A very peculiarly interesting sword, ofcourse it does have a governmental seal.(why it is engraved not stamped ) On the inscription if you can get it one line at a time i can get it translated for you (the reflection is not helping). on the date it say - fee sanat hijree 1298 في سنة هجري ۱۲۹۸ , now that is in Arabic meaning { In hijree year of 1298} why would they write it in Arabic, that is why i said peculiar. Why would an Afghan governmental sword have Arabic writings it baffles me. Now the year , right now it is 1390 HS (solar) and 1433 HQ (lunar), The mark is from the time of Nader or Zaher shah, maybe Amanullah.That would put us at most to 1918, the sword is around 92 years old (if we go the solar way), which would put up around 1913. Amanullah came to power around 1918. I have not seen Habibullah's swords to be of that style, or that seal. Correction: i just noticed that I calculated wrong, the age is right at 92 years, which puts it at 1919 which is right for Amanullah's period. Last edited by AJ1356; 24th December 2011 at 01:06 PM.

24th December 2011, 12:35 AM	#3
Dom Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Paris (FR*) Cairo (EG) Posts: 1,142	Salamam Aleikum ya AJ1356 I may said, that the cartouches aren't in Arabic might be, in "patchoun" or "farsi" , I dunno concerning the date, it's correct to translate the mention (it's possible to translate by Arabic, due might be to some similitudes) FI SANA HEGIRE 1298 either IN THE YEAR OF HEGIRE 1298 ... either 1880 Gregorian à + Dom Attached Images

24th December 2011, 12:59 AM	#5
Dom Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Paris (FR*) Cairo (EG) Posts: 1,142	Thanks Rick I'm mistaken , if I said, "great similitude" between the two swords ? à + Dom Attached Images

24th December 2011, 12:41 AM	#4
Rick Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,262	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War

24th December 2011, 02:09 AM	#6
AJ1356 Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nashville Posts: 314	DOM, the cartouches are not in Arabic but the date is written in Arabic, which is why I said it is peculiar. Also if we go the Lunar way and put the age at 1880 something (don't remember what year you wrote) then it makes the sword more suspect. Because the seal we have on the sword and this style of swords are after the 3rd Anglo-Afghan wars, which puts us at around 1919 or newer. That seal was first used by King Amanullah who became king in 1919 and subsequently started the modernization and standardization of the country and army, plus getting closer to the Ruskies, unfortunately that was his downfall since it pissed off the Brits and they used the mullahs to bring him down.