Shamshir, ID and translation please

[Royston]

Completely outside my sphere of collecting.
I am going to guess that this is a Persian ( lion on blade ) watered blade, shamshir.
I have just mildly cleaned one section of the blade to show the lion and the pattern.

I would appreciate any information from the experts.

Thanks
Roy

[ariel]

It looks like private purchase British Mameluke sword. Handle looks like bone.
Indian army military?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

See http://auctionsimperial.com/om-the-p...lah/?locale=en (The article is expertly written by Oliver Pinchot)...for a sold item of a year ago and note the Persian Lion below~

See also http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/shamshir/

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Royston

Completely outside my sphere of collecting.
I am going to guess that this is a Persian ( lion on blade ) watered blade, shamshir.
I have just mildly cleaned one section of the blade to show the lion and the pattern.

I would appreciate any information from the experts.

Thanks
Roy

While it is difficult to say from the photos, I got the impression the blade is wootz, thus most certainly Persian.


The hilt looks like Mameluke indeed.

[Oliver Pinchot]

It is certainly a Persian shamshir.
The blade is inscribed in the upper cartouche, ABBAS SHAH BANDE-YE VILAYET, which was the title adopted by Shah Abbas I (r. 1588-1629) and used by shahs of Iran thereafter. The lower cartouche, depicting a lion, also bears the name ASSAD. This is a transitional signature discussed in my article, which Ibrahim kindly cited. The wootz pattern is evident in the photos.

The guard is original. Though corroded, fine chiseling is evident.
The grips are ivory, in Mamluk style, but may be Persian work as well.
On cursory examination, it probably dates to the second half of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century.

[Sajen]

Wow Oliver,
great description! Agree with you and Marius about wootz, clearly visible. Agree also that the handle scales are from ivory as well that the guard would look beautiful after a very careful cleaning. It's a very nice sword which need a good and careful restoration.

Regards,
Detlef

[Tim Simmons]

Not so sure about the rather fresh looking file marks on the handle. I think it has been through repair restoration and replacement.

[Royston]

Thanks for the information everyone. As I said, not my sphere of collecting so all of this is very helpfull.

I had not thought that the grips are ivory as I could not see any obvious schreger lines. One of the new photos, of the end of the pommel does look more like ivory now I have looked more closely.

Tim, I cannot account for the file marks, but if you look at the new photos, I do not think anything about the hilt could be called "fresh" I don't think the grips have been off for a while. If it has been restored and replaced it looks as though it was a good while ago.

Thanks again
Roy

[Royston]

Not being the best photographer in the world, these are the best that I can manage since I broke my wide angle lens recently.
You can see the blade gets darker where I have not done any cleaning.
Hope they are of some help
regards
Roy

[ariel]

I wouldn't clean it, just oil.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by ariel

I wouldn't clean it, just oil.

May I ask why? Also when you don't want to polish and etch the blade and prefer a blade with old patina is the careful cleaning Royston has given the blade (so far I can see) will bring out only the beauty from this blade and will prevent corrosion.

Regards,
Detlef