An unusual Shaska

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Wow! Harry, good call!!
While of course this is not a 'shashka' per se', It certainly is an anomaly which is likely in the spectrum of variants as Ottoman forces were being 'westernized' as well as the possibility of this being aligned with the Caucasian and Balkan forces of the Ottomans.

Jim, I see no reason why this would (not) be a shashka, the Circassians used shashka and were heavily involved with the Ottoman forces and later the New Turkish governmant forces following their exile from Russia, they are mentioned quite frequently along with a few other ethnic groups including the Zeybek as irregular forces used in military campaigns during the 1800s and into the 1900s. This sword could have been an attempt to display alignment/allegiance with the Ottoman/Turkish forces by a Circassian.

On the other hand....it could have also been a war trophy captured during one of the militry conflicts between the Ottomans/Turkish forces and the Russians that was later Ottomanized a bit by its new Ottoman/Turkish owner with the addition of a guard and cresent.

There are some examples of Ottoman mounted shashkas that I have seen, it would have been helpful if Harrys new sword had come with a scabbard as well.