Bosnian Bichaq

[gp]

just a foot note concerning the Ottoman period and more specific on the Janiczars :

obviously based upon "the glory and victory "songs were made,
also on the skills, beauty and sucess of the fire arms like this example

[gp]

Originally Posted by mahratt

This is a Russian buckle. Buckles of this kind were often made of niello silver and often bore the inscription “Caucasus”.
But there were buckles just like yours:
https://www.vitber.com/lot/31228

Dagger - "bebut"

next to the 2 buckles shown in the above reply by mahratt ( the 2 pictures again enclosed), I found a 3rd one / my 2nd which looks similar to the Caucasian one but without the name in ofcource Cyrillic.
Made in Niello silver - .875 (84 Zolotniki) with a 2nd Kokoshnik Moscow mark dating 1908-1917.

[gp]

bak 2 the bichaqs...


just bought this one. Lenght of a typical Sarajevo bichaq, the grip is a little more like a Yataghan but is not that rare to be seen either.

Strange is the fact that most Bosnian K.u.K made bichaqs (22-37 cm ones) have a long straight blade.
Only the "cutlery" type ( < 20 cm) ones have the Yataghan typical "curly" or "curved" or snakish shape blade.
And ofcourse the Yataghan themselves...
Also the decoration differs from the K.u.K. Habsburg period 1878-1918 ones and looks more like the Ottoman times art work from pre 1878
as can be seen in the bichaqs with Arab lettering.
So a kind of match / crossover? between two periods one might say perhaps ?

First time I encountered a Balkan and Bosnian bichaq with such a blade .

The scabbard is a "marriage" as it doesn't belong to this shape of blade.
No problem as I can use it for a “straight" blade bichaq without a scabbard.

But strange it is . Will post , if interest is there, more pics upon its arrival.

Your thoughts and comments please...?

thnx a lot!

Gunar

[gp]

Originally Posted by gp

bak 2 the bichaqs...


.
Also the decoration differs from the K.u.K. Habsburg period 1878-1918 ones and looks more like the Ottoman times art work from pre 1878
as can be seen in the bichaqs with Arab lettering.
So a kind of match / crossover? between two periods one might say perhaps ?

First time I encountered a Balkan and Bosnian bichaq with such a blade .


But strange it is . Will post , if interest is there, more pics upon its arrival.

Your thoughts and comments please...?

thnx a lot!

Gunar

it arrived and I found the answer(s) myself;

First the scabbard does clearly not belong and some one sold it to the previous owner as being one.Which it isn't.

Secondly, looking at the decoration this tells it all:

1. the Bosnian Turc language written in Arabic signs is correct, but the latin one is "upside down". Root cause: the man doing this was "Latin" illiterate...
Why ? the date tells it all :

2. 1878 is the year of the Treaty of San Stephano and also Berlin, which changed the map of Europe and was the prelude to both the Balkan Wars 1910-13 and the Great War or WWI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty..._other_regions


and coming back to the bichaq: the occupation of Bosnia by Habsburg and its insurrection in both 1878
so the maker had no clue how Latin writing looked like and hence the upside down "error" which is not seen in later knives, kamas, cakijas, bichaqs and yataghans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro...govina_in_1878
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Had%C5%BEi_Loja

which makes this bichaq unique and a "quicky":

being made just first half 1878 it had the Arab decoration, just to be added with the Latin in 1878 in the occupation year when Sarajevo was "apeaced" and the prohibition of bichaq and yataghan production not yet active (1878-1882) to sell to one of the sr. K.u.K. militairy staff in charge of Bosnia. The maker wanted quickly to make some money and adjusted it for sale to the new rulers . Who can blame him in those troubled days...? Think also of Indonesia and Holland and the Tjikeroehs production

It also explains the "yataghan"like snakish blade which is typical Ottoman and can only been seen in the early Habsburgian / K.u.K. years as later the blades were straight.

[Battara]

This is a really nice variant.

[gp]

talking about a variant or (to me a little at least) strange is this one I just puchased

Indeed a bichaq but not the regular "warrior" or combattant one, nor the one for ceremonial purposes (like after the Habsburg annexation).

Why?
Simple; its size is too small / short.

Dimensions:
total length 21,0 cm with scabbard
blade 19,5 cm - width 1,8 cm
handle/grip 9,5 cm

strange in my opinion is the handle /grip : not the typical "yataghan"type but an animal (looks like a deer)

at those time you didn't had such a thing like "artistic" freedom , nor where the makers that couageous or daring to try such a thing.. Specially in the Ottoman times. My guess would be that it was made for a child of either a (very) rich merchant or aristocrat in the Balkans.


remark: the decoration on the ferrule is very fine and not seen or hardly on bichaqs as is on this one...
the metal scabbard looks "scruffy"but my guess is that the leather on it has disappeared, hence leaving it "naked"


What do you think ?

[gp]

Originally Posted by gp

talking about a variant or (to me a little at least) strange is this one I just puchased

Indeed a bichaq but not the regular "warrior" or combattant one, nor the one for ceremonial purposes (like after the Habsburg annexation).

Why?
Simple; its size is too small / short.

Dimensions:
total length 21,0 cm with scabbard
blade 19,5 cm - width 1,8 cm
handle/grip 9,5 cm

strange in my opinion is the handle /grip : not the typical "yataghan"type but an animal (looks like a deer)

at those time you didn't had such a thing like "artistic" freedom , nor where the makers that couageous or daring to try such a thing.. Specially in the Ottoman times. My guess would be that it was made for a child of either a (very) rich merchant or aristocrat in the Balkans.


remark: the decoration on the ferrule is very fine and not seen or hardly on bichaqs as is on this one...
the metal scabbard looks "scruffy"but my guess is that the leather on it has disappeared, hence leaving it "naked"


What do you think ?

update on the "scruffy":

after it arrived i noticed the metallic little look at some spots on the scabbard were actually silver ! So no leather like some bichaqs have.
The complete scabbard has been silverplated originally and sadly it disaapeared through time.
Looking at the size, the "deer" hilt, I think a nobleman or rich merchand had it made for his son pre 1878, not in the Habsburg but Ottoman era.

[gp]

a new one which I hardly have seen:
the round top of the hilt / grip and not "fancied up" with metallic support or decoration.
Be it as support of the blade or just as an additional decoration.
Total lenght: 36 cm, bichaq only 35 cm

Judging by the decorations on the blade, this looks exactly the same like the Sarajevo ones I have prior the Austrian occupation in 1878 or the latest in the transition 1878.
So definetly Ottoman period, which I would judge timewise between 1850-1870.

The round top reminds me of the Ottoman gravestones in Bosnia, specially in Sarajevo which were in Ottoman times decorated with this turban-like decoration at the top, which looks similar here with the bichaq...

Your thoughts please, what do you think ? or is it just a misplaced silly and wrong assumption ?

[gp]

just received my new bichaq of the non yataghan type blade; a triangle one.

You do not see these "triangle"ones that often and in the forum I only saw one example in member Valjhun's collection posted 2008 http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...8&postcount=23

my previous posted and 2 other ones are one from Sarajevo and Foca 1890.

This one is from Foca as well but no date on the blade.

Does any forum memeber have a traingle one and if positive:

- kindly requested to give me the specs / dimensions
- show us a picture

thank you very much !☼

[gp]

Two nice pieces :

a nice Bosniakenmesser / bichaq with a blade of 35 cm and wooden copper covered scabbard

and the second is a long dagger which based on its lenght I never have seen before;
Total 45,5cm with scabbard, witouth 40 cm and blade 27 cm .
Scabbard is made out of wood, leather cover and metal / iron at end and top.


Has any of you seen the 2nd long type before or have you one in your collection ? in the latter case, kindle requested to provide a picture, thank you