An Interesting Trabzon Knife

[Jim McDougall]

It is interesting to see these kind of cleft hilts with similar profile in some Transcaucasian short swords, which were among the groupings which included the well known 'Black Sea Yataghan' (Laz bichaqi). These were depicted in the 1897 Hungarian reference cited in "The Origins of the Shashka" (Jacobsen & Triikman, Denmark, 1941).