An unusual Shaska

[harrywagner]

Originally Posted by estcrh

The other is that this was a kilij that was altered with the addition of a shashka hilt.

Isn't the blade all wrong for a Kilij? Am I wrong to think that the blade defines the knife?

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by harrywagner

Isn't the blade all wrong for a Kilij? Am I wrong to think that the blade defines the knife?

Harry, sometimes blades were around a lot longer than the hilt. For example, a blade may have first been used in a Persian shamshir and later in an Ottoman kilij, in my opinion you have to look at what the person who put the blade and hilt togther intended the sword to be.

Your sword is an unusual example, the maker could have easily made it to look like a kilij but instead used a shashka hilt which suggests to me that it could have been intended for use by a Circassian of the Ottoman/Turkish forces, maybe a later period military sword much like the later period military kilij, one of several possibilities.