Deadly Utility: Indo-Persian Scissors

CharlesS · 3rd July 2016, 07:03 PM

I had seen pictures of Indo Persian scissors before, and often admired their elegance...and their quite lethal dual purpose...but I have not had a chance to purchase one til recently, and I like this example. The scissors are just over 8.5in. with its blades being 4.5in. Closed they have every bit the look of a dagger, note even the reinforcing rib to each outer blade. As utility cutters they are almost every bit as sharp as they ever were and will cut paper and common cloth with ease. RSWORD and I tried to figure out if they are wootz steel. You can't see it in my poor pics, but the inside and outside of the blades are two very different colors, so we wondered if perhaps the outside was a wootz veneer.

The decoration to the scissors at the rivet screw is chiseled and overlaid with silver, while the area of the finger holes is entirely silver(top 2.25in.)

Just a very neat and interesting conversation piece for the ethnographic blade collector!

kronckew · 3rd July 2016, 07:32 PM

cool,

wonder how that fits into the concealed carry laws. i can see it now...

but officer, i was just going to my girlfriends house to clip coupons when i was accosted by those two now dead thieves who demanded all my money...

NEWSFLASH: Demon Barber of Fleet street punctures two with silver scissors of doom. news at 11:00.

CharlesS · 3rd July 2016, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kronckew

cool, but to be cruel it's dual, not duel

Kronckew, that's not cruel, it's correct, and thanks for pointing out the oversight. I have made the correction.

kronckew · 3rd July 2016, 07:56 PM

- i blame browser/text message spell checkers.

anyway, neat instrument. wonder if it was for the female of the species for innocuous self protection.

Oliver Pinchot · 3rd July 2016, 08:37 PM

Nice acquisition, Charles!
This is Ottoman work from the first half of the 19th century.
It was typically carried as part of a calligrapher or scribe's kit.
Since many were itinerant, travelling from village to village to
ply their craft, such a combination of utility and protection makes
perfect sense.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 3rd July 2016, 09:08 PM

For a quick insight into Ottoman Arabian and Persian calligraphy equipment see http://calligraphyqalam.com/process/tools.html

We seldom hear of paper and its role in Islamic Caligraphy... I noted Quote" Paper making technologies are believed to have been introduced to the Islamic world through Turkish and Chinese papermakers captured at the Battle of Talas in 751. Instead of using bark from the mulberry tree, however, papermakers in the Islamic world resorted to pressing linen rags (Johannes Pedersen, The Arabic Book, trans. Geoffrey French, [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984], 60-64). Unlike parchment (cured sheep or goat skin), paper could be made cheaply and in industrial quantities particularly after 794, when the first paper mill was established in Baghdad (Jonathan Bloom, Paper Before Print: the History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001], 29 and 48). Also see Helen Loveday, Islamic Paper: A Study of the Ancient Craft (London: Archetype Publications, 2001)"Unquote.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 3rd July 2016, 09:47 PM

I wonder did scissors influence the design of the scissor style of Kattar Dagger?

CharlesS · 3rd July 2016, 10:55 PM

Oliver, thanks for your input.

Ibrahim, I was just about to ask Oliver if he had a picture reference to a calligrapher's kit, but you already have shown us a splendid one!

Thanks for adding so much to this thread guys!

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 4th July 2016, 12:25 AM

Thank you Charles S. Certainly among the world experts in his field and particularly the Islamic sphere Oliver is the man to ask. I'm just a novice. Here below more scissors and a very nice Calligraphers box.

Battara · 4th July 2016, 12:54 AM

Fascinating!

Oliver Pinchot · 4th July 2016, 01:36 AM

La tahqur nafsak, ya Ibrahim! Your contributions to this forum are far more numerous than my own.
This compact variety of scissor with the loops wrought inline is often kept inside the qalamdan or pen box, together with reed pens, a pen knife and a small inkwell.

CharlesS · 4th July 2016, 12:38 PM

Isn't it interesting that something we take so for granted as a common household utility item was, in its own time and place. a painstaking work of art.

Thanks again for the input guys.

benny.lee · 8th July 2016, 03:14 PM

This is how exquisite！

VANDOO · 12th July 2016, 01:03 AM

I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THESE BUT NEVER OWNED ANY, THEY WERE ALWAYS REFERRED TO AS PERSIAN SCISSOR DAGGERS. INTERESTING TO LEARN OF THE CALLIGRAPHY ASSOCIATION. I SEEM TO REMEMBER A GIRL ASSASSIN WITH AN EYE PATCH USING TWO OF THESE TO GOOD EFFECT IN THE MOVIE BARBARELLA.

3rd July 2016, 07:03 PM	#1
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,857	Deadly Utility: Indo-Persian Scissors I had seen pictures of Indo Persian scissors before, and often admired their elegance...and their quite lethal dual purpose...but I have not had a chance to purchase one til recently, and I like this example. The scissors are just over 8.5in. with its blades being 4.5in. Closed they have every bit the look of a dagger, note even the reinforcing rib to each outer blade. As utility cutters they are almost every bit as sharp as they ever were and will cut paper and common cloth with ease. RSWORD and I tried to figure out if they are wootz steel. You can't see it in my poor pics, but the inside and outside of the blades are two very different colors, so we wondered if perhaps the outside was a wootz veneer. The decoration to the scissors at the rivet screw is chiseled and overlaid with silver, while the area of the finger holes is entirely silver(top 2.25in.) Just a very neat and interesting conversation piece for the ethnographic blade collector! Attached Images Last edited by CharlesS; 3rd July 2016 at 07:46 PM.

3rd July 2016, 07:32 PM	#2
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,183	cool, wonder how that fits into the concealed carry laws. i can see it now... but officer, i was just going to my girlfriends house to clip coupons when i was accosted by those two now dead thieves who demanded all my money... NEWSFLASH: Demon Barber of Fleet street punctures two with silver scissors of doom. news at 11:00. Last edited by kronckew; 3rd July 2016 at 07:50 PM.

3rd July 2016, 08:37 PM	#5
Oliver Pinchot Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 457	Nice acquisition, Charles! This is Ottoman work from the first half of the 19th century. It was typically carried as part of a calligrapher or scribe's kit. Since many were itinerant, travelling from village to village to ply their craft, such a combination of utility and protection makes perfect sense. Last edited by Oliver Pinchot; 3rd July 2016 at 11:59 PM.

3rd July 2016, 09:08 PM	#6
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Tools of The Islamic Calligrapher. For a quick insight into Ottoman Arabian and Persian calligraphy equipment see http://calligraphyqalam.com/process/tools.html We seldom hear of paper and its role in Islamic Caligraphy... I noted Quote" Paper making technologies are believed to have been introduced to the Islamic world through Turkish and Chinese papermakers captured at the Battle of Talas in 751. Instead of using bark from the mulberry tree, however, papermakers in the Islamic world resorted to pressing linen rags (Johannes Pedersen, The Arabic Book, trans. Geoffrey French, [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984], 60-64). Unlike parchment (cured sheep or goat skin), paper could be made cheaply and in industrial quantities particularly after 794, when the first paper mill was established in Baghdad (Jonathan Bloom, Paper Before Print: the History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001], 29 and 48). Also see Helen Loveday, Islamic Paper: A Study of the Ancient Craft (London: Archetype Publications, 2001)"Unquote. Attached Images Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 3rd July 2016 at 09:35 PM.

3rd July 2016, 09:47 PM	#7
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	I wonder did scissors influence the design of the scissor style of Kattar Dagger? Attached Images

3rd July 2016, 07:56 PM	#4
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,183	- i blame browser/text message spell checkers. anyway, neat instrument. wonder if it was for the female of the species for innocuous self protection.

3rd July 2016, 10:55 PM	#8
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,857	Oliver, thanks for your input. Ibrahim, I was just about to ask Oliver if he had a picture reference to a calligrapher's kit, but you already have shown us a splendid one! Thanks for adding so much to this thread guys!

4th July 2016, 12:25 AM	#9
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Thank you Charles S. Certainly among the world experts in his field and particularly the Islamic sphere Oliver is the man to ask. I'm just a novice. Here below more scissors and a very nice Calligraphers box. Attached Images

4th July 2016, 12:54 AM	#10
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,221	Fascinating!

4th July 2016, 01:36 AM	#11
Oliver Pinchot Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 457	La tahqur nafsak, ya Ibrahim! Your contributions to this forum are far more numerous than my own. This compact variety of scissor with the loops wrought inline is often kept inside the qalamdan or pen box, together with reed pens, a pen knife and a small inkwell.

4th July 2016, 12:38 PM	#12
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,857	Isn't it interesting that something we take so for granted as a common household utility item was, in its own time and place. a painstaking work of art. Thanks again for the input guys.

8th July 2016, 03:14 PM	#13
benny.lee Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Posts: 42	This is how exquisite！

12th July 2016, 01:03 AM	#14
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THESE BUT NEVER OWNED ANY, THEY WERE ALWAYS REFERRED TO AS PERSIAN SCISSOR DAGGERS. INTERESTING TO LEARN OF THE CALLIGRAPHY ASSOCIATION. I SEEM TO REMEMBER A GIRL ASSASSIN WITH AN EYE PATCH USING TWO OF THESE TO GOOD EFFECT IN THE MOVIE BARBARELLA.