Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 14th December 2005, 10:06 PM

I do not think it is Wootz (crystalline damascus); it is mechanical damascus and, I think, of Shams variety.
The finial looks Ottoman, and the use of niello points more towards Asia Minor proper rather than the Balkans. I just got Yu. Miller's book on Caucasian Arms in the Hermitage collection; it has an example of a dagger with a handle traditionally attributed to Albania (deep diagonal cuts on the handle) but in fact of Georgian origin. This one is not Caucasian at all: wire-stitched scabbard, different niello ornaments, different location of hanging rings (look almost Syrian or Moroccan to me!) , wrong finial.
I vote for the Levant origin (Turkey, Western Middle East).

14th December 2005, 10:06 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I do not think it is Wootz (crystalline damascus); it is mechanical damascus and, I think, of Shams variety. The finial looks Ottoman, and the use of niello points more towards Asia Minor proper rather than the Balkans. I just got Yu. Miller's book on Caucasian Arms in the Hermitage collection; it has an example of a dagger with a handle traditionally attributed to Albania (deep diagonal cuts on the handle) but in fact of Georgian origin. This one is not Caucasian at all: wire-stitched scabbard, different niello ornaments, different location of hanging rings (look almost Syrian or Moroccan to me!) , wrong finial. I vote for the Levant origin (Turkey, Western Middle East).