Fascinating thread! After all these years of discussing ethnographic blades we come back to the core. What is wootz and what is not. I am not an expert on the subject but my humble opinions are:
The first knife is not Albanian. But is not the common Kurdish also. I am not sure were it comes from. It has some Syrian look to me. Its blade is wootz but not sham pattern.
Sham pattern is shown clearly in Jeff’s example. Till now I was sure that sham was wootz. Middle eastern bladesmiths produced that pattern by forging wootz steel. Now I am not sure anymore, after your words. I wish someone clarify the subject.
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