Persian kindjal with assad Allah stamp
 

What are your opinions about this kindjal? I vote "fake" for the Assad Allah stamp,but item else than that original to early 20th c., am I right?

regards

I agree: Iranian, Qajar dynasty as seen by the coin.
But I am not sure we can call the stamp on the blade as even hinting at Assadollah. True, Assad means lion, but it is not a signature( that was copied in thousands all over the Iislamic world). I would not call it a fake at all.
I am intrigued by the similarity of the lion stamp that is so often seen on Persian blades and the picture of a lion that is often seen on Georgian crossguards and scabbards.
See, for example, this one, from Artzi's site:
http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=1836
Perhaps, Rivkin can help us.

I would guess that the coins are that of Reza Pahlavi, probably 1950-1960, quite similar to other stuff we have seen coming from Ardabil, Mashnad and other places in contemporary Iran.

Concerning Assad Allah - I would say in this context it is just a tribute to traditions. Unfortunately I still have not read Oliver's article on the signatures, and therefore it would be presumptous for me to offer more extensive comments. In his lecture Manoucher introduces the idea of Assad Allah being actually an honorary title for a superior quality smith in Iran rather than a name or family.

Hello

Here is the link for the Shamshir article by Oliver Pinchot.
http://home.mcihispeed.net/~wardc/scan2.tif
you can open this with microsoft imaging ,microsoft pictures and fax viewer, microsoft office document imageing, etc
Please remember this is a copyrighted work, any citations must be approved by the author.

Qestions/comments also welcome-- you can contact the author directly at

oliverpinchot@hotmail.com

hardcopies are available

enjoy the article



Ward