Silver yataghan with inscription

[Rivkin]

The usualy story is that people are trying to put too long signatures in their marks - as a result it is somewhat unclear what you have -"all", "mu" or "s". Taking into account that these marks tend to wear off, many of them are completely unintelligable.

Most of them are not guilds, they are usually something like "Amal Muhammed" - made by Muhammed.

Originally Posted by not2sharp

It would seem pointless to go through the trouble of marking a blade if the end result is indistinguishable. I wonder if these marks may have been associated more with a maker's guild rather then individual makers.

n2s