I've be rereading this thread and would like to continue it a bit further, I think the discussion had some excellent input and would like to learn a bit more on the topic (s).
In doing a little research, I wanted to add some observations on the term 'karabela'. I don't think it is a general term for sword used in the sense of 'qaddara' or 'puluoar', but is applied distinctly to the hilt form on primarily Polish sabres with this hilt. As has been observed, the form has carried into other Eastern European countries as well.
The hilt typically is of stylized eagle head form, and seems to have been taken from Ottoman sabres with such hilts captured by the Polish at the Siege of Vienna in 1683 ("Polish Sabres: Their Origins and Evolution" by J.Ostrowski & W.Bochnak, in "Art,Arms and Armour" Ed.R.Held, Chiasso, 1979).
In this paper, it is noted that the 'karabela' term etymology remains unexplained, noting further the suggestions of the Italian possibility of 'cara' and 'bella' (the dear beauty) and the name of the city in Iraq, Kerbala.
The authors propose that more likely would be the city of Karabel in western Turkey, due only to the phonetic similarity, and noting the Turkish sabres which were captured in Vienna which had the same hilts.
While the highly stylized eagle profile does seem Ottoman, especially as evidenced by the captured examples from Vienna (see Wagner, "Cut and Thrust Weapons", London, 1967, p.214, pl.8), it does seem the stronger case for the 'karabela' term would be the Karbala origin. That is unless the Turks somehow conveyed the term to thier Polish captors, but it does not seem the term was used by the Turks in what I have seen so far. It should be noted here that the crossguards on the Turkish examples were with straight quillons.
It seems that for some reason, the Polish versions of the karabela typically had the key stylized eagle head hilt and had the downturned quillons on the crossguard form termed 'shariban' (per Radu 7/22/06). Examples of these hilts are seen in Wagner (op.cit. p.214, pl.9) and in "Ciecia Prawdziwa Szabla" (Warsaw, 1989, p.108) where the author notes the drooping quillons form was made by Armenian smiths (Lvov) while straight guard versions elsewhere.
It would seem the Armenian smiths may have carried considerable influence from the Caucusus, which in turn carried heavy Persian influence.
The almost trapezoidal profile of the hilt of the sword in discussion clearly represents Persian style as seen in the Zand example from Manouchers book, and the 'shariban' form crossguard reflects the early Islamic styles shown in "Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths" by Yucel (Istanbul, 2001, pp.15,74).
I agree that the hilt appears latter Qajar and as commonly seen reflecting 'revival' styles , as well as the blade being most likely Caucasian. It seems that the star occurs quite a lot on qaddaras which are made in Azerbijian, as shown in prior posts. Interestingly Azerbijian was the ancestral home of the Qajars, so the star may have some such association, and since regions there were so active in trade, possibly the sword is a 'revival' form item made likely last quarter 19th c.
Although I present nothing new with the conclusion on the sword here, except possibly the suggestion of Azerbijian being its origin, I just wanted to furnish some hopefully supportive detail, besides I enjoy wandering through the books !
Still unresolved on the karabela term, but I think its pretty much structly a European term. I dont think I would call this a karabela, but would note the hilt shape as resembling one.
All best regards,
Jim