Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Yannis
It is exact the hilt of my shamshir! Some one took a shamshir blade and put this hilt on! I suppose to make it more attractive
|
Is it??? Arrrrgghhh... talk about a bad marriage...
About age... well, M1843 stands by "Model 1843", 1843 being the year when this weapon was officially put into service. Can't tell you for how long this specific model was in use, I'm away of my bibliography right now, but no more than some decades, that's for sure, so it can be said that your exemplar's hilt may date from the second half of the 19th century... provided it's genuine, of course: it is not impossible that there has been replicas made by companies selling decorative swords. I vagely recall seeing something similar being offered for sale in some of the tourist shops that plague the country...
Mind it, there has also been similar weapons issued by European armies, and the picture is not so great as to really provide good, reliable information. And, then, there are the variations of the model. But, in any case, all of them are roughly from about the same period, so the mid-late 19th century attribution for the hilt is hardly going to be off-mark... provided, again, that it is genuine.
Can't offer, as I would like, much better information, I'm afraid...
Marc