Turkish NCO (?) WW1 Sword.
 

Hi
just bought this Turkish Officer's sword. The inscription is 'old' Turkish script and was used up to the end of WW1 ....after which they changed their alphabet to the latin characters. The inscription reads... 'Allah (god) is with us/me'.

Spear pointed and double edged ... all the descriptions of these swords state that the hilts are wooden .......mine is horn and almost certainly Rhino :D which suggests to me perhaps the officer was a CO or higher rank ?
The 68cms (26 3/4") long blade is of good quality steel, diamond cross section, seems to be a very small "I" or a 'sideways' "H" stamp next to the guard. I believe the better blades were supplied by Germany (Solingen ?).

Came with a scabbard with a damaged end. The throat is much larger than the blade, so likely a later replacement ? Wooden core with brown leather similar to the British type used during WW1.

All comments and info greatly received, thank you

Regards David


.

Nice :) .
Beautiful inscription ;) .
Look at me ... envious :mad: .
Fernando

Nice thing! :)

Say David,
Are the guard, ferrule and pommel in iron?
That dark shade ... is it patina, or some kind of finish?
Fernando

Thank you Fernando and Zwielicht for your kind comments.

'Nando the guard, pommel etc is brass, with dark patination over most of them. Some areas looked to have been cleaned quite some time ago, and whilst cleaning the blade this patination was 'wiped' (not deliberately :( )and is a little shinier.

There are nicks to the blade......which are very old.....perhaps these occured during the 'Great War' ....hard to say. It certainly has seen some 'action'. I have read that these swords were actually used in the trenches....some were shortened to make them effective 'trench knives', the guard making a useful 'knuckle-duster'.

I have also read that bayonets, swords and knives were often utilised in combat as the Turks often suffered ammunition supply problems, but were still expected to attack 'enemy' positions :eek:

Kind Regards David

The inscription is especially interesting, showing how far the German influence on Turkish military went during that time. `Allah bizimle' is a direct translation of famous German military slogan of the Second (and later the Third) Reich: 'Gott mit uns'.

I´ll be damned :eek:
Fernando