Reinforcements on the scabbard of Polish sabres, and a 20th century example?

[Sakalord364]

I noticed that the scabbard reinforcements on these Polish scabbards were oddly similar to the reenforcement on this early 20th century Afghan Sabre. Was this just a coincidence, or was this perhaps some ottoman technique that influenced both cultures?

I’m also curious when these reinforcements were actually applied to the scabbard itself, was this just a design element when making the scabbard, or was this a way of repairing a split scabbard?

[awdaniec666]

Contrary to popular belief that the countries in Europe in that time that had the most economic and military contact with the Ottoman Empire were constantly copying Ottoman inventions, in reality this relationship was based on a two-way exchange. For example, European blades were highly valued in the Middle East, but traditional Polish headgear was also copied. This as a reminder. The following is just my conclusion and opinion.

In the case of the scabbards and the exact content of your question, I would say that this rail and the clasps along the scabbard are more likely to have originated in areas of then Hungary and Poland-Lithuania. One indication of this could be the specimens and their differences from Ottoman and Hungarian-Polish weapons. This technique can be seen as early as 1514 as the contemporary painting "Bitwa pod Orsza" shows. The light cavalry there has been equipped (according to the painting which is said to be realistic) with osmano-hungarian sabers with traditional scabbards, as well as the same sabers with the "more modern" scabbard style we ware talking about here.

Another clue is provided by the iconography. From a certain point onwards, sabres in the Hungarian-Polish style can also be found in the Ottoman Empire (which included regions of the Balkans and was therefore geographically in the immediate vicinity). In the iconography of the 16th and 17th centuries, this type of scabbard (together with the corresponding Hungarian-Polish sabre) is much less common among the Ottoman warriors depicted than their own variants of edged weapons and scabbards. I conclude from this that it must have been an imported product from central and eastern Europe.

I do not see this technique as a way of repairing scabbards, but rather as a way of preventing damage.

The colored picture is said to be from 1577 by Nicolas de Nicolay, the other one is from 1703 by Caspar Luyken. The depicted group drawing is from Codex vindobonensis 8626, c.1591.

[awdaniec666]

To answer your other question if your Afghan scabbard is linked to those Polish-Hungarian ones (guess I forgot to), there are few possible solutions:

- Is the scabbard shown by you a common specimen in Afghanistan or just an exotic type? Can we really link this scabbard to the Afghan culture or is it maybe an object made somewhere else? (A lot of Poles lived in the Near-East as Emissaries.)

- Coincidence/Practicality; Afghans developing this technique themselves (this technique we´re talking about here is no rocket science. If you want to enforce a scabbard tip, this is a straight forward way to do it.)

- A European scabbard found its way to Afghanistan.

- The style came through the Ottomans to Afghanistan.

Until no other facts or comparable specimen are given all of those are equally possible. My gut feeling is that this scabbard of yours is a modified older European one (Polish/Hungarian/Austrian) which has be modernized to fit Napoleonic styles and with its hanging ring some regional/regimental fashion.

[Sakalord364]

Originally Posted by awdaniec666

To answer your other question if your Afghan scabbard is linked to those Polish-Hungarian ones (guess I forgot to), there are few possible solutions:

- Is the scabbard shown by you a common specimen in Afghanistan or just an exotic type? Can we really link this scabbard to the Afghan culture or is it maybe an object made somewhere else? (A lot of Poles lived in the Near-East as Emissaries.)

- Coincidence/Practicality; Afghans developing this technique themselves (this technique we´re talking about here is no rocket science. If you want to enforce a scabbard tip, this is a straight forward way to do it.)

- A European scabbard found its way to Afghanistan.

- The style came through the Ottomans to Afghanistan.

Until no other facts or comparable specimen are given all of those are equally possible. My gut feeling is that this scabbard of yours is a modified older European one (Polish/Hungarian/Austrian) which has be modernized to fit Napoleonic styles and with its hanging ring some regional/regimental fashion.

This type of scabbard with these fittings is commonly found among Afghan swords of the early 20th century. The curved examples are rarer and made by private artisans, the style is in imitation of the straight examples which were made by the official military factory. However I have never seen this type of scabbard reinforcement before. The last Afghan dagger I included because it had a somewhat similar method of scabbard construction.

I will add that the fittings on the sword that has the unique scabbard reinforcements are noticeably cruder than the other swords pictured.