Afghan shashkas
 

Afghan shashkas for the army Afganistan from my collection.

4 is too many, you don't want to sell one? even without the scabbard...

:) :)

My friend, in my collection of 10 Afghan shashkas. And they are all different. I collect exactly the Afghan arms ;)

But, if you decide to go on a tourist trip to see Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia (it is in these cities museums with the most interesting collections of oriental arms), I will be glad to invite you to visit me and show you these shashkas :) :)

This is an EXCELLENT topic! and you are more than eminently qualified to discuss these most interesting versions of these shashkas. Seeing these has prompted me to take the liberty of offering a review of your new outstanding book, "Edged Weapons of Afghanistan: 19th-20th c". ...on a separate thread.

The questions that come to mind, such as are Afghan shaskas really 'shashka's'? were they influenced by Russian or Caucasian shashkas? etc. are the kinds of questions that have long percolated through the arms community.

I acquired some time ago a shashka which was attributed to Uzbekistan, but had a scabbard with the long fluted silver tip which seems characteristic on Afghan paluoars. It was honestly hard to ascertain whether it was indeed Uzbek or Afghan, and the hybridization of these in these contiguous regions virtually render any specific classification almost impossible.

We could say, 'one could almost write a book on the possibilities in studying weapons of these regions'!! :)
Well you did!!! Congratulations!!! Nicely done.

This is my shaska, I hope enjoy pictures.

I am absolutely delighted!

Beautiful example Carlos!! Thank you for sharing it here.
What do we know on this one? Do you have provenance or notes on its possible origin etc?
These are fascinating weapons in their very simplicity.

This piece was bought diretly in Kabul.

Wow! that was quick! :)
I like the work in the scabbard fittings, and it seems openwork was very much favored in Afghan weaponry.
Thanks very much Carlos.

I am delighted to see these swords getting some attention on the forum! I have been a fan of them for some time, though I realize they fall into the strange collecting category of "rare but not highly sought after". Perhaps it's because Caucasian shashkas are more "blingy" and found in greater numbers.

I have handled about 5 of these including my two shown, and they may vary in length and blade type, but are generally always heavier than the Caucasian shashka.

My two are both quite heavy even to the point of becoming somewhat cumbersome to handle. The hilt styles are the same with simple riveted-through scales. The blades are not particularly well forged. Note that forging flaws abound on the larger example even to the point of partially ruining the chiseled panels at the forte.

Those panels are reminiscent of Persian style cartouches but are actually far cruder by comparison.

Each sword has some form of arsenal mark. The larger one has it chiseled into the forte panel on one side. The smaller example has it inlaid in gold on one side with an Arabic inscription I have not had translated.

Even with some faults, these versions are certainly unique, worth appreciating, and as far as I know, this style is unique to Afghanistan.

Charles,
I am uneasy with the definition of marks as " arsenal" ones. Those were embossed stamps.
Yours are way more interesting: they look like private purchase. There are so many varieties of them, it is almost inavoidable to conclude that all ( or most) of them were made in different workshops.
The " golden" one has a date: 126? ( can't figure the last numeral).
If Hijra, it would be somewhere between 1844-52.
If Jalali, - 1881-90.

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Carlos,

Seems to me the end of the scabbard was broken and a brass chape was added to fix the damage. That's why the scabbard looks much longer than the blade.

Charles, very good shashkas. Thank you! The shashka with a black handle has a blade with an arsenal stamp. Engraving was done later. By the way, it seems to me that the bolster has been repaired. A shashka with a white handle is most likely a private order, which was carried out by the master not from the arsenal. But, I would suggest that this white-handed checker belonged to the officer who ordered the decoration in gold. But this is just my guess.

My favorite Afghan shashka. It is made by the private master and does not have any stamps of an arsenal (factory). But I really like her beautiful Persian blade from wootz steel. :)

Mahratt,

This is the nicest one I have seen. It looks to be a Persian mid-19th-century shamshir trade blade(with "AssadAllah" workshop marks and cartouche) made into a shashka. I love it... beautiful quality from top to bottom!

Yes Charles
I agree with you. This is the nicest one I have seen.

Have you translated the stylized Arabic on the scabbard mounts? Do you think the scabbard is a converted Afghan shamshir scabbard, or "born with" this sword??

I would be very grateful if someone would help me with the translation.
In my opinion, the scabbard was made specifically for this shashka. Its handle is deeply hidden in the scabbard, which can be seen in the first photo.

Charles,

Alternatively, it was a shamshir to start with, with replaced handle and suspension rings put upside down.
This can explain the slit on the throat in a "wrong" i.e. reverse location. This was very unusual, if not unseen, on pseudo-shashkas, but necessary for highly curved shamshirs.

This is a magnificent shashka!! and with this blade even more exciting.
As Charles well notes, this is one of the Persian trade blades with the Assad Allah cartouche and lion pictograph with the calligraphy panel.
These blades are well described in Oliver Pinchot's article of 2002 in "Arms Collecting" (Vo. 40, #1, February).

As Elgood has noted these blades along with Caucasian blades entered the Arabian sphere, as well as their being found in India and other spheres receiving such trade blades. I have a Bedouin sabre with this same blade form, but much shallower curve.

That is what is so unusual and more attractive on this particular example is the more parabolic blade than usually seen with these Persian trade blades. With Ottoman kilij ofcourse, the deep parabolic blade has the slit opening in the throat of the scabbard to allow passage of the blade exiting the scabbard.
It is most unusual to see this on the reverse carry which is a Caucasian affinity for the draw cut in sort of 'quick draw' style.

While a bit of an anomaly, it is fantastic! I have actually never seen a shamshir with one of these blades, at least per se'. It seems most I have seen are in various local hilt forms as noted with use of these trade blades.

I tend to agree with Ariel.
This is an original Persian shamshir converted into a Shashka. The scabbard also appears to be the original one, modified for the new purpose.
But, this is my speculation... :shrug:

Marius,
Easy to check. Shamshirs have tangs arising from the middle of the blade. Here it arises from the side. X-Ray the handle and look for additional holes.
I am also a little bit spooked by the 5th pic from the top: the big fitting with the suspension ring seems to be somewhat out of alignment with the leather.
At the end of the day it is immaterial: even if the scabbard and the handle were reworked, it was done during active life of the sword. But still would be interesting: no matter when and how, but the slit at the throat is on the wrong side of the scabbard.
It is not a fake by any standard; at the worst case it was a major modification.

Marius, I would agree with you. But! As you can see in the first photo, the handle of this shashka is very deeply hidden in scabbard. So I think that the master made these scabbard specifically for this shashka :)

Or the blade was shortened by cutting off the tang (or part of it) and placing the new shashka hilt lower... (this is very common for Japanese swords).

:shrug:

Ok. But why then make scabbard in the upper part oval (in cross section)? This is good for shashka. But it is not necessary for shamshir.

Good point!

You are probably right as the scabbard for a shamshir would only have a slot for the blade and would not fit a hilt.

While Im no expert on shashkas, nor especially shamshirs, Ive never seen a shamshir with opening slot except on purely Ottoman examples with 'extremely' parabolic (deeply curved) blades ( I have one of these with narrow deeply curved blades with long scabbard slot to accommodate).

That is why I noted this blade seems more curved than the examples I have seen of the ubiquitous 'Assad Allah' blades with lion pictograph (as I mentioned earlier per the Pinchot article of 2002 I cited).

I feel pretty sure this scabbard is made for this shashka for that among other features, for example, aren't the 'reverse' carry rings a distinction of the Caucasian shashkas ?

The points made pertaining to the tang are well made, and I honestly missed that (bonk) . The tang would most certainly need to be lower to accommodate this hilt. For me, more suggestion that the scabbard was made to fit this sword. As Charles has mentioned, the 'arabesque' engraving on the mounts do not seem in character with Persian work (of course) and the nature of the mounts seem more Caucasian, in my perspective.

When Elgood noted Caucasian blades often found in Arab context, it would seem perhaps these Persian trade blades may have entered the mix of blades coming from those regions in trade. If they were indeed present in the Caucusus, is it not possible for one to be mounted in the Caucasian manner accordingly in those regions?

I do not mean to detract from the Afghan attribution here, but honestly am asking these things to better understand the possibilities. I notice also the scabbard chape 'drag', which is a European sabre feature, and Afghans in the latter 19th c. were becoming profoundly Anglicized. A normal shashka scabbard chape would not have a 'drag' in Caucasian context, but perhaps an Afghan would given these circumstances.

Book illustration: "The Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan Volume 2"

Jim,

I have a Georgian Khmali and a spare Caucasian Shashka’s chape, both with drags.

I also have 2 Afghani pseudo-shashkas, both without drags.

My guess , drags were relatively recent additions, designed primarily for infantry officers or for the cavalry ones who had to carry them to the regimental balls:-)
They were just protectors of the scabbard tips.
They migrated to the “Orient” from Europe; again my guess,- not earlier than the early 19 century ( Caucasian), late 19 for the Afghani examples.

Neither of my Afghani pseudoshashkas have throat slits, and I can’t recall one. No miracle: they were not deeply curved and did not need a slit.
The more I look at it, the more I think that this gorgeous pseudo-shashka was reworked, re-assembled from different parts and massively prettified. Right now I would not be able to disagree with the idea that the “ prettyfication” process was done recently: far too many inconsistencies.

Many thanks for your opinion, drawn up on the basis of your 4 shashkas. It’s always nice to see how a person is trying to think and compare something.

To make any serious conclusions about the item on the basis of photographs (without holding the item in hand) is certainly a sign of “great specialist”. I am flattered that I am on the same forum as YOU and can get your opinion. Thank you so much!

Look at the scabbard of the guy in Samarkand...

Ariel thank you for the response, insights and interesting observations. As someone also fascinated with Afghan and Central Asian shashkas I must say I feel like I am 'among giants' with the perspectives given here. I admit despite years of studying these myself, I am by far still learning.
Kubur, great images!!! Really add dimension to this view into these.

On the scabbard 'drag', what I learned of these is perhaps hyperbole, but with European swords, it was fashionable in the 'hussar' trend, to wear sabers low slung and virtually dragging along as the individual walked. ...much in the manner of clinking spurs with cowboys. Naturally the hand of the sabre was probably more to the position while mounted, but the characteristic set a fashion.

There is likely a more pragmatic explanation in the scabbard structure itself, but the style in the case of these Afghan shashkas may have been simply adopting European military fashions.

Kubur,
Both of them carry sabers in a typical saber style: edge down.
The first one has a saber likely made by the Tubchiev brothers ( from Daghestan), who learned enameling in Central Asia and brought with them niello in exchange.
The second one.... his robe is too multicolored to see the handle clearly.

My hesitations about the "pseudoshashka" are as follows:
1. The blade is very curved, not typical for those Afghani swords. Likely remounted shamshir.
2. The slit is on the wrong side. Moreover, I have never seen slits in pseudoshashkas: their curvatures are not as pronounced. Mainly, they are seen on Ottoman kilijes. I am sure you have several of those, just try to unsheath them holding the sword horizontally but with the slit being above or below. See which position is more comfortable.
3. The handle is asymmetrically placed, in a typical "pseudoshashka" style. If my suspicion about the blade coming from a shamshir is correct, the tang should have been re-worked. I would x-ray the handle to look for any signs of it.
4. I am uneasy re. contour change in the middle of the scabbard. Looks as if it was re-formed and the modified area was covered by the suspension fitting.
5. Was the leather stitched in the Ottoman style: wire "springs"? Would be nice to see a close-up pic.

Obviously, I am at a great disadvantage because of my inability to inspect the sword personally. But the owner can do it if he wishes and disabuse me of my suspicions.
As I have already said, it is a beautiful and highly unusual pseudoshashka. The former is indisputable. The latter is what makes my antennae twitch.

Ariel, calm your antennae.

This Afghan shashka, which you persistently call pseudoshashka (but it’s excusable, old people are usually very conservative), has no problems ;)

Sorry, but I don't care much about your "suspicions." And certainly not so much that I was in a hurry to “disabuse” you.
Some of the forum participants who were visiting me in Moscow had the opportunity to carefully consider this shashka))))

And one moment. If you didn’t see something, then it only says that you didn’t see it and nothing more;)

Kubur, you are absolutely right. The scabbard with the element that I circled in red (if I understand correctly, the discussion was about it) has been marked in Afghanistan since the first half of the 19th century.
Color lithography is the 1840s (from the watercolors of Lieutenant Rаttrаy), the black and white image is an illustration from book Bellew: Journal Of A Political Mission To Afghanistan In 1857 (here we can see the afghan shashka) https://archive.org/details/journalo...501mbp/page/n7

Kubur,
I enlarged the pics of Mahratt's pseudoshashka.
See. pic #6 from the top: typical Ottoman stitching and the fitting disturbed the seam mightily, to the point of tearing the wire stitches. I am more and more certain that the fitting was turned upside down to create a "shashka-like" appearance of the scabbard, and that the scabbard was originally Ottoman and not Afghani.

Have you tried to play with one of your kilijes and unsheath the sword when the slit is on top or on the bottom? Would like to get your impression.
As a matter of fact, other Forumites may try it too: the more opinions the better. We seem to have a fun exercise.

Hi Kubur.
The desire of our friend Ariel to prove that he is always right, often plays a bad joke with him. He begins to see that which is not. And he does not want to see what is, but does not coincide with his opinion :)
In this case, having initially made erroneous conclusions, he saw a “wire seam” (or its "footprints") that no and never was on the scabbard of this Afghan shashka... Sorry, but on the scabbard, a seam from an ordinary thread ...

Ariel, dear friend, I remembered the Russian La Fontaine - the the author of the fables Krylov and one of his fable, where the main character lost his sharp vision with age ...

P.S. Knowing Ariel’s "youthful enthusiasm", I’m sure that he will continue to find fault with something else. So prepare more popcorn ;)

Thanks for responding to my query about the stitches and adding a close-up of the area. Regretfully, my expanding the previously-posted pic of the same location blurred the image.
Yes, regular, not wire seam. Afghani, not Ottoman.
Now it is seen even better that the leather is damaged, likely by the repositioning of the suspension fitting. Somebody likely wanted this one to look like a real Caucasian shashka, but the damage to the leather and the wrong position of the slit betrayed him.
Still, a very handsome example that should have been left alone. Perhaps, you might want to reposition the fitting to its original state. Should not be very difficult.
Enjoy it.

The inscription on the blade says:

عمل فقیر حسین (۰)١٢٦

‘amal-i faqir husayn 126(0)

“Work of Poor Husayn, 126(0) (1844-45)”

Starting with the inscription nearest the throat you have

نصر من الله وفتح قريب

“Victory from God and near conquest” (part of Qur’an 61:13)

الله محمد علي حسن حسين وفاطمة

“God, Muhammad, ‘Ali, Hasan, Husayn and Fatima”

انا فتحنا لك فتحا مبينا

“Indeed we have given you a manifest victory” (Qur’an 48:1)

On the mount in the middle, you have, repeated:

يا قاضي الحاجات

ya qadi al-hajat

“O Requiter of Needs!”

What a drag
 

I can't see any evidence of drags in the circled photos Mahratt posted, leaving me a little confused on terminology. I know in some cases the term "drag" is used interchangeably with the whole chape. I've edited one of Mahratt's photos to clearly show what I call the drag, distinct from the rest of the chape.

I'll note that at least in the random sampling of European saber photos I looked at, the larger side of the drag always leads, thus providing equal or greater protection to the front side of the chape that's clunking into the ground as you walk. Looking at Mahratt's shasqa sheath, the larger side of the drag is on the concave side, meaning the concave side is downward, matching the orientation of the other mounts. The chape hasn't been removed and reversed, as the carved side and plain side on it match the face and back side (stitched side) of the leather.

All that aside, these are lovely shasqas people have. I really like the shasqa's clean lines and simplicity. I'll have to dig mine out of storage and provide a photo, but it's not in the league of the ones shown here, not by a long shot.