Howdy, very nice piece. I dabbled a very little bit in kinjal and qama in the late 90's. My little research left me with the impression at the time that qama tended to be completley covered in silve/nickel/ niello both hilt and scabbard ( like the kinjal the front would be decorated, while the back, the side that layed against the hip would be left plain ) while kinjals used less silver/nickel/ neillo decoration, the hilts often being left plain other than the rivets and perhaps a small panel set in the horn. I am far from an expert ( very far ) but from what I remember the pretty complete use of silver/nickel/neillo would have this seeming more possilby to be a Georgian qama. I owned several kinjals with a similar etched pattern in the fullers, and was left curious at the time if it wasn't some kind of Islamic script done in proffusion, given the Islamic influence in the region.
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