I personally believe these were for carrying grease or oiled rags based on what I've heard from collectors in Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Caucasus. The author of "Turkish Weapons" and "Weapons of the Caucasus", E. Astvatsaturyan also suggests this. I picked one up in a Mosque in Rize, Turkey. It was hanging on a wall and when I asked about it, they told me it was an "old thing for cleaning guns."
Here is a period photo of Georgian irregulars in the Russo-Turkish War in 1877
|