yatagan hilt and scabbard, opinion welcomed

[francantolin]

Hello dear members and glad to see you, hear you again !

I wanted to show you this yatagan,

the blade seems really nice, authentic and old but
the velvet cover is recent I think
and I doubt about the hilt ears of the hilt who seems made of wood and the scabbard mounts maybe made of just low grade silver.

An old blade on a recent ( and cheap ) assembly ?

[francantolin]

scabbard is really longer than the blade...

[Gonzoadler]

Hello,

the mountings of the scabbard looking old to me and the decoration on the back of the hilt, too.
The velvet is new, I agree.
With your pictures I can't say if the the handle shells are new,
could be.
Nevertheless a nice Yatagan.

Regards
Robin

[ariel]

Based exclusively on the pics I think you worry too much: low grade silver is common on Turkish and Balkan yataghans. The velvet is likely to be new or a later replacement. Wooden cheeks are most likely replacements during the active life of this yataghan. Originally, I guess, they were either horn or walrus ivory, but these materials are very fragile and it is not unusual to see cracks in the middle, broken off ears etc. The wood looks worn, with kisses of time and heavily patinated.
I think this might be an old fighter. Gosh, I know quite a lot of 40-60 year old women with more pearly white full teeth implants, tightened skin and silicone-injected lips!
I might be wrong, but for changing my opinion I would have to hold it in my hands.
Look at the wooden inserts of the scabbard: they may tell you more.

[David R]

It looks perfectly righteous to me, and a damn sight better workmanship than you often see. The grips could still be horn, when it gets old and worn it has a tendency to delaminate and look like dark wood.
As for low grade silver. Ottoman "silver" coins could be as low as 22% in silver content, and they are probably the source for most so called silverwork.
Velvet cover, try and peek underneath, there might be some nice leather-work there, there was with one of mine.

[francantolin]

Hello,
Thank you all for your comments !
I will try to remove the mounts and velvet and see how the wood parts looks like ,
I'll post a picture.

Kind regards !!

[francantolin]

A picture of the scabbard wooden inserts,
seems old,
the chape must be silver or silver alloy,
I clean it a little, I found
two interesting small stamps,
Sherlock investigations

Maybe it helps to fix the origin ( Turkish or Balkans for me but it's a large area... ) ?

[francantolin]

And the hilt,
not wood ( thank you , you were right !!)
but made of horn ,
and maybe gilted parts ? ( really nice carved-chiselled )

they are bright-shiny without cleaning
( but maybe the were cleaned not long time ago )

Kind regards

[mariusgmioc]

Judging from the photos, it is an excellent 19th century Ottoman Yataghan. And my guess (based on the style of decoration) is that's from the Balkans. But this is just a guess.

To me, all parts appear to be original except the velvet which is a later replacement.

Definitely original scabbard.

Yes, fittings are gilt silver.

What is interesting with Ottoman silver alloys is that they tend to be much more resistant to oxidation than silver. High grade silver alloys oxidize and turn black in a few months but Ottoman silver alloys will keep their shine much longer, for years. Occasionally they may develop a faint yellowish patina from the copper/brass in their composition.

I suggest you take better photos of the koftgari and ask Kwiatek to help you with the translation of the text.

[Gonzoadler]

With the new photos I would say even the velvet is old.
It has a decorative stitching which is hard to craft and convincingly signs of wear.
The bright colour is no knock-out-criterion.
With the old photos I had'nt believed that.
Very nice piece, dont change anything
And if you don't like it, I do.

Regards
Robin

[francantolin]

Thank you Marius and Robin for your comments !

Good idea for the make a post just for the translation,
I'll try to make good pics, not always easy with my camera ,

[kwiatek]

An owner's inscription:

sahib mehmed ağa
tawakkaltu 'ala allah 1243

"The owner Mehmed Ağa.
I put my trust in God. 1243 (1827-8)"

Verses in cartouches

On the left, Arabic verses:

يا خفي الالطاف
نجنا مما نخاف

ya khafi al-altaf
najina mimma nakhaf

On the right, Turkish verses:

Adem geldi kadem basdı cihana
Ecel geldi bıçak ucu (?) bahane

"Mankind comes and places his foot in this world,
The tip (?) of a knife can be the excuse for his departure"

The Turkish verses are a variation on an inscription that you see on tombstones, but with what looks like 'the tip of a knife' substituted by 'a headache'! The word that I've read as 'tip' is not very clearly written, it might be something else. I've never seen this inscription on a yataghan before, thanks for sharing.