Thank you for adding the pictures!
This 'form' we now term the Laz Bicagi, and known as the Black Sea yataghan in the research, discussion and often controversial debate over many years here appears to have been one of a broader group of similar weapons mostly from Transcaucasian, Trebizon, Erzerum regions but these were known in the Caucusus as well as I have been told by contacts in Tblisi.
These seem to have pretty esoteric as they were little known in collecting circles in the 90s but became better known in following years.
As far as I have known there have not been more modern versions of these. References I recall seeing in research and discussions say that these do not seem to not have been forms around before late 1700s at earliest, probably more mid 19th c. . It is said (Jacobsen & Triikman, 1941) that by later in the century these were often found in out buildings and largely not in use.
It seems many, perhaps most of these in this recurved form with these features (needle point, forked pommel) have the work in the blade spine, which likely varied per the artisan making the blade. As often the case, varied artisans often completed different work on the blades.
Jacobsen and later Seifert (1962) termed these Kurdish-Armenian yataghans, which illustrates the rather broad distribution of these through transcaucasian regions.
I always thought these most intriguing and unusual and it was pretty exciting when I first got one back in the 90s when they were not well known. After that more began appearing and value dropped, so reproduction unlikely.
Last edited by Jim McDougall; 11th October 2022 at 01:54 AM.
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