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#1 |
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Hello,
I got this knife at an auction in Germany and it was sold as Azerbaijani knife which I seriously doubt. The knife is 37,5 cm long, the grip is of a single piece walrus ivory and the blade is of high contrast wootz. Any suggestion would be welcomed! |
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#2 | |
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#3 |
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I agree. Nice piece.
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#4 |
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I think the knife handle of walrus tusk. Could you show other angles the hilt?
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#5 |
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Certainly Walrus ivory and of a known hilt shape and blade type, referred to as a Bichoq. These particular knives have a very Caucasian Shashka hilt essence to them.
Elgood notes about half a dozen manufacturing centres in his image plates within the The Arms of Greece and Her Balkan Neighbors in the Ottoman Period, all sharing similar features...not a specific region I could pin down...perhaps closer to Turkey? Gavin |
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#6 |
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I agree with Mister Gavin.
The decoration on the scabbard and the style of the hilt push to Turkey. Did someone translate the inscription? Kubur |
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#7 |
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The hilt is definitely walrus ivory as the blade is wootz. Moreover, the type of wootz appears to be of Persian origin (high contrast with rather large streaks of watering pattern). This, I believe will place the knife somewhere in the 18th century. The writing on the blade looks rather strange. Can somebody identify what kind of script it is... if it is any?!
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#8 |
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Salaams All. It is always nice to know what is written when looking at say Latin or Anglo Saxon script.etc In the case of Islamic script something entirely additional is being reflected... The Talismanic effect (Talisman is in fact an arabic word Taslamen) ...protection from evil ...good luck...Often the date is submerged in the text as in this case where on the left side is the date. Two styles predominate..there are more but Kufic and Cursive are the main styles. Kufic is straight and angular with thick lines ending in a chamferred edge whilst Cursive is devoid of angles and formed by lines where downstrokes and upstrokes alternate...
Kufic and Cursive below examples.. Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 25th January 2016 at 05:12 PM. |
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#9 |
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Thank you Ibrahiim!
Kufic I believe was the old Turkish script. So this might place it to Turkey. You mentioned a date hidden in the script. What date is it? Best regards, Marius |
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#10 | |
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#11 | |
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Cursive is not a style. I think you mean nashki and thuluth Kufic is not Ottoman, it's very old around 9th c. Marius could you send a better picture of your text? I think you have a date on your knife... Regards, Kubur |
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#12 |
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here is the text
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#13 | |
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My thoughts are that Bichoq, Bichaq, Pichoq, Pichaq and other spelling exists... Name/s for a small knives such as the one presented, a name used dependant of the region across the Balkans and wider Turkic areas to the east. As with yataghan, Kilij and Shamshir, the grip slabs are pinned, but being raised off the tangs and sealed/decorated with grip straps and bolsters or in the case of swords, the quillon blocks, this is typical, but Stones assessment seems to be limited to only bone or ivory slabs when so many more materials were used from horn, rhino horn, silvers, brass, ceramics, stones and others I am sure I have not listed. This knife fits the form despite being a single pieces of ivory. The same could be said for the known Turkish small one piece Jade hilts too. Gavin |
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#14 |
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Just small remark the classification of "bıçak". This generally means knife in Turkish an if you ask e.g. for a modern stainless steel knife in restaurant you ask them to bring a bıçak.
The knife is very nice. I think the style of the sheath is more to the Ege region (? Kubur will definitely repair me if I am mistaken). Interesting is, that contemporary silversmiths/restorers in Turkey can make such nice sheath - like in old times, too. But I think contemprary chasing is much deeper than they used to do it before Martin |
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#15 | |
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bıçak, bichaq, bishaq, bichaq, bichac, pichoq, pichok, pchak, pechak, P’chak Best, Dave A. |
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#16 | |
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#17 |
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Regarding the term "bichak," to me it is quite clearly a direct phonetic transliteration of the Turkish word "biçak" simply because English doesn't have the letter "ç" and neither do most of keyboards. It is exacltly the same way as the Turkish word "kiliç" is spelled in English as "kilij" using a spelling that is closer to the way the word should be read. All the other forms, might simply be alternate, sometimes misspelled phonetic transliterations.
As with respect to the meaning of the word, yes in Turkish it means simply "knife" but at the same time it has become a associated with a specific Ottoman type of knife, the very same way the Persian word "kard" which also means "knife" has become associated with the well known specific type of knife that originated in Persia. PS: The word "kiliç" means "sword" in Turkish, but it has become associated with the specific Turkish saber. Last edited by mariusgmioc; 27th January 2016 at 03:21 PM. |
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#18 | |
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Salaams Kubur ...You are right. Serves me right for trying to short circuit the definition... Perhaps readers will look at http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/islamic_calligraphy/ for a ballanced fuller look at the styles... I think the date is over on the left side of the picture... Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. |
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#19 | |
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Gavin |
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#20 | |
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http://atkinson-swords.com/collectio.../uzbek-pichoq/ |
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#21 |
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Salaams all...Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Kufic
The project knife is not pseudo script..The date appears on the left of the item ... These inscriptions are automatically Talismanic thus there is some reluctance in providing translations by some ...quite understandable. ![]() Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. |
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#22 | |
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