Unusual Shashka

ariel · 13th August 2021, 03:09 AM

I noticed this tread just now . I am very busy these days editing a big textbook about pituitary diseases ( which is my speciality and real expertise) and go to my favourite Fora only occasionally, irregularly and briefly.
I was flattered by Oliver’s calling me “ knowledgeable” about Caucasian weapons. These are one of my interests, but in no case I am comparable to Oliver himself, Kirill Rivkin and a coupe of people on Russian Fora.

I tend to stay away from Caucasian filigree, mostly because I do not have very sharp eye for their quality. There was a Georgian jeweler Dzadzamidze working mainly at the beginning of the 20 century. He was producing filigree that makes Russian collectors “ o-oh-ing and a-аh-ing” , but somehow it always seemed to me very “ womanly”, decorative and not suitable for battle. Then I learned that filigree was the easiest decorative technique and that contemporary mass producers of artificially aged replicas of shashkas and kindjals hired girls, recently graduated from high schools and looking for some kind of their “ first jobs” , trained them for literally couple of days and then allowed them to decorate handles and scabbards. These girls worked for a pittance, just like their Guatemalan or Chinese counterparts sewing underwear for K-Mart. Some did pretty crude jobs ( even I could see it), but some with a couple of months experience produced very good ( again, for my eye) examples. That firmly pushed me away from Georgian filigree.

Repousse and niello are much more complex, and there are heated arguments on the Russian Fora whether a particular design was produced by a Lak or an Avar master. However, most genuine items ( end of 19-beginning of 20 century) were made not in ethnic villages, but in large workshops in Tbilisi, Vladikavkaz and even in some Ukrainian and Russian towns. These workshops employed masters from multiple localities and the styles became universal: a Lac master made Avar designs, a native Armenian decorating in the old Circassian style and vice versa and so on.

I can figure out Russian/Ukrainian niello and just for the fun of it bought a shashka made somewhere there. But again real gurus will find some minutiae of major importance.

Thankfully, I know my limitations and consult the real gurus when and if needed, but luckily I am into fighting weapons, historical weapons and more and more into history and books. I buy new stuff very infrequently and only if it hits me as a puzzle. But show me an old giant South Indian spear blade with a Basket Khanda handle or an old Indian damascus saber with a modified British 1821 handle and I get excited:-) There are some risks in this approach, but I am willing to take them. Perhaps it is silly, but what the heck! There are as many collections as there are collectors.....

13th August 2021, 03:09 AM	#27
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I noticed this tread just now . I am very busy these days editing a big textbook about pituitary diseases ( which is my speciality and real expertise) and go to my favourite Fora only occasionally, irregularly and briefly. I was flattered by Oliver’s calling me “ knowledgeable” about Caucasian weapons. These are one of my interests, but in no case I am comparable to Oliver himself, Kirill Rivkin and a coupe of people on Russian Fora. I tend to stay away from Caucasian filigree, mostly because I do not have very sharp eye for their quality. There was a Georgian jeweler Dzadzamidze working mainly at the beginning of the 20 century. He was producing filigree that makes Russian collectors “ o-oh-ing and a-аh-ing” , but somehow it always seemed to me very “ womanly”, decorative and not suitable for battle. Then I learned that filigree was the easiest decorative technique and that contemporary mass producers of artificially aged replicas of shashkas and kindjals hired girls, recently graduated from high schools and looking for some kind of their “ first jobs” , trained them for literally couple of days and then allowed them to decorate handles and scabbards. These girls worked for a pittance, just like their Guatemalan or Chinese counterparts sewing underwear for K-Mart. Some did pretty crude jobs ( even I could see it), but some with a couple of months experience produced very good ( again, for my eye) examples. That firmly pushed me away from Georgian filigree. Repousse and niello are much more complex, and there are heated arguments on the Russian Fora whether a particular design was produced by a Lak or an Avar master. However, most genuine items ( end of 19-beginning of 20 century) were made not in ethnic villages, but in large workshops in Tbilisi, Vladikavkaz and even in some Ukrainian and Russian towns. These workshops employed masters from multiple localities and the styles became universal: a Lac master made Avar designs, a native Armenian decorating in the old Circassian style and vice versa and so on. I can figure out Russian/Ukrainian niello and just for the fun of it bought a shashka made somewhere there. But again real gurus will find some minutiae of major importance. Thankfully, I know my limitations and consult the real gurus when and if needed, but luckily I am into fighting weapons, historical weapons and more and more into history and books. I buy new stuff very infrequently and only if it hits me as a puzzle. But show me an old giant South Indian spear blade with a Basket Khanda handle or an old Indian damascus saber with a modified British 1821 handle and I get excited:-) There are some risks in this approach, but I am willing to take them. Perhaps it is silly, but what the heck! There are as many collections as there are collectors.....