Help with inscription
 

Here is the inscription on the handle of a shashka.
I am primarily confused about the date: illiterate master?
Please help!

ariel can you give me a closup on the date. It does not look right but I will try

at the question "illiterate master?" .... it's seems :confused:
I submitted the text to my favorite translator, and she is formal
it's not a date, but she translated a part of the script, a name,
what it's before could be "farsi or turkish" and requiere an other translator :shrug:

à +

Dom

ok playing with the date reading backwards 302 would translate to 1302 AH =1894 AD. this is straight guess work. Ismal is possible but I am not sure of it

ward

No matter how we look at it, the date is confusing: either 203 ( 1203???) with the wrong orientation of horizontal bars or 302 ( 1302???) with not only wrong horizontals, but with the wrong direction of the entire set of numerals.
That's what I mean by "illiterate".
My translator suggested: Tasto(h) bin Ismael bin Ali.

Why I read 203 easily? :confused:
It is possibly because I am too illiterate in arab script :p

no .. it's coze you are spending too long time watching you in a mirror
may be ... it's a second nature with you to see everything backward


:p sorry for .... humour :D

à +

Dom