Afghan "Khyber" knives for identification

[erikscollectables]

Added these two to my collection today. My knowledge mainly is concerned to Indonesian weapons but I started reading a lot here on the forum.

My assessment based on what I found on the forum so far:
-both so called "Khyber" knives from Afghanistan
-probably mid to late 19th century (2nd Afhan War?)
-camel bone handle and horn handle
-both seem to have reasonable quality layered steel, maybe even wootz
-the one with copper details may be from the Balloochi/Baluchi region?

Hope you guys can chime in and add some info!

Are there good period photo's around of these type of weapons being worn?

[werecow]

Just to add my 2 cents: Indeed khyber knives (aka salwar yataghan). I don't immediately see signs of wootz but I'm not particularly good at identifying faint signs of different types of steel.

There's a picture in this thread:





(I have not searched the whole thread so there may be more.)

AFAIK the choora is a kind of dagger from the region, not a region itself.

[erikscollectables]

AFAIK the choora is a kind of dagger from the region, not a region itself.

Correct I mixed two things up - region was Balloochi!

[werecow]

While I'm at it I might as well add my own "example of the type", since I've never posted it on these boards. Roughly 600gr, 68 cm.

I love the scabbard on this (in spite of it being a bit worn). The red lacquer is flaking a bit, though so I'll need to figure out how to stabilize that (I was thinking of just carefully gluing the flaky ends but suggestions welcome).

Also probably the first sword I got that was sharp enough to actually scare me a little.

Would be interested in the measurements of your examples!

[erikscollectables]

Thanks for the input and nice example!