Quote:
Originally Posted by mahratt
This is somewhat of a misconception. Leather cover of handles was found in Afghanistan, and in the khanates of Central Asia, and even on the outskirts of Persia.
It is important to note that none of these regions used embossed leather decorated with gold on the handle. So, in my humble opinion, the Indian origin of this shamshir is beyond doubt.
By the way, Drabant1701, congratulations on the acquisition of a wonderful shamshir.
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Regretfully, I failed to find examples of Persian shamshirs with leather-covered handles in the Khorasani’s book, in the Polish collections , in the Hales’ book or in any other source. Similarly, such covers were not described in the D. Miloserdov’s ( Mahratt’s) Russian article on the materials used for shamshir handles and in his book on Afghani weapons.
I would not be surprised to see Turkmen swords on the “ outskirts of Persia”, since it has a large border with Turkmenistan and large Turkmen minority population, or Tajik/Uzbek swords in Afghanistan with similarly extensive borders and large populations of Tajiks and Uzbeks ( there are ~4 times more Tajiks in Afghanistan than in Tajikistan) who resisted Russian occupation of their lands ( See Basmachi) and escaped to Afghanistan in the 192O-30s carrying their weapons.
Leather covers of shamshir handles were typical Central Asian features, not inherently Persian or Afghani. In the latter locations they are largely family heirlooms, last remnants of their national liberation movement.
Simillarly, I am unaware of any Indian shamshirs with leather handle covers .
Thus, I doubt we can define a shamshir with Persian blade and typical Central Asian leather cover of the handle as Indian.
Drabant, you got yourself an incredibly rare sword in excellent condition! Congratulations!