A strange choora......

[knife7knut]

Picked this up today after thinking on it for a few weeks.At first I thought it was just a great old knife that some one had thoughtlessly re-handled but now I'm not so sure.

The blue material around the sheath I initially thought had been a recent addition looks to have been attached when the sheath was first made. Likewise the scales which are made of clear plastic(plexiglass maybe)actually consist of eight separate pieces very carefully fitted to the knife.The rivets appear to be pretty old as well.Under the scales are pieces of paper(some foil like)likely cut from an advertisement.

What I also noticed is what appears to be a signature of some sort running along the spine above the scales.I have included a picture in the hope someone might be able to translate it.The beginning(or end;I'm not sure which)appears to be a date(1990).The picture might be upside down as I am not familiar with Arabic cyphers.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.By the way the investment was only $10 US so I'm not overly concerned with whether or not I made a good deal.

[Lew]

This is your choora. This is your choora on LSD . Nice one late 1960s I think?


Lew

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by LOUIEBLADES

This is your choora. This is your choora on LSD . Nice one late 1960s I think?
Lew

Lew, I think you got it.

In the 70s, before the series of devastating civil wars, Afghanistan was a passage for hordes of hippies on the road to India. This knife holds the spirit of that era.

[kronckew]

putting my feet into the shoes of the maker, the latin lettering probably looked as exotic and decorative to him as we think of arabic or farsi inscriptions on our collection gems. interesting cultural drifts.

[Rick]

Sweet !
I like it .
Post war perhaps ?
A steal .

[RobT]

Hi knife7knut,
It's a well and traditionally (except for the hilt and sheath materials) made piece. May we all make such good deals.
Sincerely,
RobT

[ariel]

A hand-made knife of the criminal class in Russia is called " finka" ( "Finnish one"). RobT, nothing in common with Puukko or Leuku
Stacked colored plexiglass/ metal discs ("nabor") or solid slabs of plexiglass was the high-end method of making the handle. Absolutely "dreamy" were the ones with small pictures inserted under the plexiglass; often candy wrappers were used for this purpose.
This is exactly the way this one is made. A Russian-taste souvenir? Idea imported from Uzbekistan?
Would be interesting to know the date of the paper, but I am afraid the Afghanis were not into maintaining provenance

[RobT]

Hi Ariel,
The word "Cloth" (and the other letters on that line) is in Times Roman Bold. The fact that the type is pseudo condensed indicates that it was originally set in cold type as opposed to hot lead. This would give a date of around the early 1970s at the earliest. Before the Mac, pseudo condensing was done with a special lens on a flatbed camera. This process was relatively pricey and was almost always reserved for headline type (36 pt at minimum) in more expensive ads. At a rough guess I'd put the type on the hilt at about 18 to 24 pt and the quality of that type doesn't indicate high end printing. I think it's a pretty safe bet to say the type was set on a Mac (or a PC) which gives a date of at best of the late 1980s.
Sincerely,
RobT

[ariel]

If you are not pulling my leg, this is an outstanding analysis!