A nice persian khanjar

[GePi]

Hello,

After quite a while I would again like to present a new piece in my collection for appreciation and comment.

It is a walrus ivory hilted khanjar from the Qājār period, that I have won at a recent auction.
I have always liked these and I have been looking to get my hands on one for a while, and after passing on a great one at a US-Auction about a year ago due to fear of *CITES trouble* I finally got one of comparable quality for a much lower price.

The hilt is beautifully carved in deep relief and decorated with small brass nails. The motive of a scepter wielding ruler on one side and a hookah smoker on the obverse is rather unusual, I have seen it only on one other piece which resides in the German Blade Museum in Solingen.

The blade had lost its wootz pattern except for a tell tale spot near the hilt, and was covered in light surface corrosion. I gave it a light repolish and etch and unsurprisingly got a decent result, as most of these daggers seem to have nice wootz patterns. Unfortunately my camera has trouble getting a focus on the pattern, so the pictures are a bit blurry.

Any comments are very welcome, especially concerning a possible deeper meaning of the figure carvings.

Cheers