Armenian? Georgian? silver dagger

[eftihis]

I was wondering in what language this script is written. Then, we may discuss for translation... It lloks to me from the type of the letters as Armenian or from Georgia... Anyone recognises it?

[Andreas]

Armenian, I think.

[Martin Lubojacky]

I don´t know and I would say acc. to inscription. ....

Nevertheless here is relatively similar dagger, min 100 years old, comming from Rhodos .... (the blade is very used)

[Oliver Pinchot]

It's Armenian, Eftis

[Battara]

What a nice piece!

I love it!

[arsendaday]

It's definitely Armenian. Can you post the whole inscription in one photo. I will try to translate for you. A clearer photo will be better, if possible of course.

[eftihis]

I hope is clear enough!

[motan]

Hi, I agree that the letters look Armenian (though I don't read any Armenian), but the looks is very Ottoman/Greek. Theoretically, this would point towards Eastern Armenia (Cilicia), which was in the center of the Ottoman empire, not far from the south-west Turkey, which a large Greek population. I don't no similar examples, so this is purely guessing.

[arsendaday]

Here it is eftihis.

There is only one letter/word that I couldn't see clearly, but the meaning won't suffer from it.

So literally it says: "To the enjoyment of Ayvazyan M/I Yakob and Mkhi." It is clearly a gift inscription that was presented to most likely father and son Ayvazyans. The word M/I is what I couldn't figure out; could be a nickname or a title. IMHO I think they were father and son, because while Yakob is a full name, Mkhi is a short version of a name only used for friends or little kids and since it was included in the inscription, I think that he was somebody important too.

In my opinion the dagger was made somewhere in the Ottoman Empire (maybe late 19th, early 20th century) and it was custom ordered from an Armenian silversmith/weapon-smith for an Armenian person. The reason I think the smith was Armenian is because the inscription is done in repousse, meaning it was done before the dagger was assembled together and I doubt that any Armenian national in the Ottoman Empire would ever order an Armenian inscription from weapon masters who are not Armenian.

It is a great piece and must have cost a fortune in its day.

[arsendaday]

Originally Posted by motan

Hi, I agree that the letters look Armenian (though I don't read any Armenian), but the looks is very Ottoman/Greek. Theoretically, this would point towards Eastern Armenia (Cilicia), which was in the center of the Ottoman empire, not far from the south-west Turkey, which a large Greek population. I don't no similar examples, so this is purely guessing.

Just to make couple of corrections; Cilicia was never in Eastern Armenia and not even in Western Armenia. It was out of Armenian Highland (where Greater Armenia is) and to the South West of it. I have attached a map for reference.
If you take the Greater Armenia (it is called Greater, because there is also Lesser Armenia) and divide from the middle you will get Western Armenia in the left and Eastern Armenia on the right. As you can see most of Eastern Armenia is in modern day Iran territory, while all of Western Armenia is in modern day Republic of Turkey. And modern day Republic of Armenia is just a northern part of Eastern Armenia.
That's about the geography. Concerning the dagger, I highly doubt that it was made in Cilicia. And here is why. While there were weapon/silversmiths in every more or less important town in Ottoman Empire, the centers of major Armenian weapon productions were Erzerum, Van, Trabzon and of course the capital of Ottoman Empire Istanbul. And while there was a big Greek community in Izmir, they could by no means influence the style of a dagger in Cilicia in so much that Armenians would order a "Greek Style" dagger. That said I am 85% - 90% sure that this dagger was made in Istanbul, which was a major center for Armenians, as well as Greeks and also was home to representatives of all the nations and ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire, (as is the case with the Capital of any Empire: Roman, Russian, British or Ottoman). And this dagger is clearly influenced by Classic Turkish Style, maybe with some elements that were later adopted by Greeks. Also only in Istanbul one would be able to find many silversmiths who would be able to read and write properly. And also only people living in a big city would order an expensive, silver knife as a gift (This is not exactly a weapon to be used in war). And of course, all that I am talking about is true of late 19th, early 20th century Istanbul. Hope this is helpful.

[Battara]

Excellent work folks, thank you!