Caucasian Kindjal for comment

[Nagawarrior]

Gav;
May I recommend an excellent reference book, Chechen Arms, by Isa Askhabov. The people of the Caucasus are an intensely proud people. One of their proudest possessions are their weapons. It may be considered a great insult to infer that one would carry a weapon of inferior quality. Learn about these great people and you will understand. Enjoy your quest for knowledge.
Stephen

"A secret guardian of freedom, the punishing kindjal, last arbiter in matters of disgrace and insult........"

[scratch]

G'day
I have held this piece(Thank you Gavin) Dress, I know nothing. Blade I believe to be honestly made with craft.
Norman, if not for courtesy to guide I would be lost. Thank you for a timely reminder, to me

Sinceely,

Daniel

[Lew]

The blade seems to be well made and could be a blade from early part of the 20th century. Below is a quality blade that I thought was 19th century but turned out to be circa 1920-30. So older blade married to a more recent furniture.

Lew

[Gavin Nugent]

Thanks for the comments gents,

Originally Posted by LOUIEBLADES

The blade seems to be well made and could be a blade from early part of the 20th century. Below is a quality blade that I thought was 19th century but turned out to be circa 1920-30. So older blade married to a more recent furniture.

Lew

Thanks Lew, I agree with what has been said about an older blade being married with newer furniture for my piece and albeit in the tradition of the masters of old but without the exicution of their skills, and did guess that too when held side by side of the other I had here. What I wished to acheive was not to have it met with statements of it being an old antique, what I was hoping for was apart from obvious physical flaws, those who know state more thoroughly reasons why. All the toing and froing aside, I would like to know more about that blade shapes. The picture you provided Lew is a good point for comparison for me. Etchings aside, the fuller arrangement seems to be the exact offset as the ones pictured in mine, but you will notice the tip of mine is a nastier, almost recurve double edge with a long needle point. Does this denote and particular time in history or region of manufacture?
Thank you too Daniel for pointing out the first hand views and feel from you contact with this piece, appreciated.
On another note chaps, from what surfing I have done I understand Isa Askhabov is contactable through email via a website, can anyone here porovide his contact details to save me digging further and possibly doing language translations. PM me if you can.

best regards

Gav

[ariel]

I am reviving this topic to point out a dramatic change in Georgian weapons that occurred over the past several years.

Originally, in the 1990s, contemporary Georgian dealers were able to sell truly old examples. But inevitably those got exhausted. Instead came a flurry of junk made by amateurs. With time, there came a small but growing group of enthusiasts rediscovering history of Caucasian weapons and old techniques. They were greatly assisted by books written by Kirill Rivkin who systematized the localities, varieties, metallurgy and decorative techniques of Caucasian bladed weapons. Through trial and error they managed to produce modern examples that would definitely qualified as “good” by the old masters. Of course, they are not yet at the level of Eliarov, Papov, Purunsuzov and their illustrious contemporaries, but with time and money there is no reason to be pessimistic.

[Edster]

Ariel,

Thanks for reviving this thread. I have two such Kindjals I bought in Russia in the late '90s that may illustrate the downfall of the Caucasus traditions. I would appreciate an assessment of their quality and traditional validity. I have no ego investment into the items.

The bottom example of 2nd pic & first picture in post) was naively bought in Moscow as a souvenir. The three narrow fullers look ground and the metal shows what looks like copper/alloy peeking through a white metal coating.

The top knife was bought in (I think) Stavropol. It exhibits a more quality workmanship, but is it really "hand work"? The metal looks silver, but I couldn't get a good test using what may be degraded test solution. There is a red felt-like protector for the blade at the mouth of the sheath. Also, the knife was supplied with a long white (cotton?) sleeve for protection.

Best regards,
Ed

[ariel]

Yes, that was the sad time of cheap junk.
But here is a newly made kindjal, - blade, scabbard, handle, decoration. Georgian masters made a miraculous recovery and their contemporary examples are not worse than what was made in the second half of the 19 century.