Estradiot Yataghan

[ariel]

Here is a medium size yataghan I bought strictly because of its handle.
It is simple, wooden, and its only embellishment are 3 round silver-niello bosses situated in places that did not require them from a mechanical point of view. The blade was hardened using a differential technique: uneven high-carbon edge , resembling Japanese Hamon ot some Caucasian Kindjals.
The form of the "ears) is not a typical yataghan-like; it is a simplified form of what is seen on the so-called "ear daggers", originally Hispano-Moresque, then Venetian, then Estradiot.
I guess it is Greek: silver-niello decorations and the fact that Stratioti were by and large Greek. It looks like a kind of homage to the old pattern. Most likely 19th century, but if anyone suggests the 18th one, I shall not argue:-)