Saif for comment

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Good evening,
I hope I'm not upsetting anybody if I say that the well formed ricasso and the equally well formed circular end to the fuller on what seems to be quite a hefty blade don't strike me as very Arab. Like Ariel I could quite believe it to be an Afghan blade. However my main point is to link the mark, which Ariel thinks is Mazar al Sharif and Ibrahim Omani, to those on the mysterious daggers in this thread http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...2&page=2&pp=30. It would seem this type of mark was really in quite widespread use.
Regards
Richard

Salaams Richard G ~ Its quite different ~ The marks at your reference are various but the closest is a straight forward X in a rectangle. The Mark shown on the subject here appears to represent crossed swords over a dagger arrangement >I<
I rather think the blade to be European.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[AJ1356]

I was trying to stay away from the subject and the whole worng info about mazar e sharif thing but it seems like that is not happening.
First, there never was a Mazar e Sharif arsenal, I explained this b4 but for some odd reason it keep popping up again and again. It is a misconception that just causes confusion for people.
On this blade itself, I'd lean towards an European blade as Ibrahim is thinking.

[Tatyana Dianova]

I do not believe the blade is European, because the fullers are very uneven and there are many small smithing "errors" where the layers (pieces) of metal were forged together - the blade was definitely hand forged.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi All,
I'm inclined to agree with Tatyana, these fissures are not what I would expect to see on a 19thC European blade. Tatyana do you think the fuller is ground or forged?
My Regards,
Norman.

P.S. Looks like a nice hefty functional blade.