Question regarding the origin of the grip construction on these European style swords

[Sakalord364]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

The dates you note seem to be correct, and indeed the British were no longer occupying Afghan regions formally, but retained suzerainty while providing notable subsidy in various areas.

I am curious, you assert that the Afghans by virtue of the advanced manufacturing equipment were fully capable of producing these heavy, notably uniquely channeled blades by 1893....which seems the earliest date known for these military swords........have you found evidence that this equipment included that for producing sword blades? Most images I have seen of the factory works show the production of the Enfield rifles. The emphasis on the rifle production had once compelled me to think the similarity of the hilts design and construction aligned with that of British bayonets, but that notion also remains unproven.

As far as I am aware, the production lines at Machin Khana were geared toward production of Enfield rifles. I am unaware of such fullering on blades for swords of this type, except perhaps for European forces such as sappers, miners and artillery gunners. It seems I had heard suggestions these Afghan swords were intended for gunners, but they also have been suggested for other issue.

There were other shops in the area of the Machin Khana as I have understood which might have conducted assembly of these swords, and as they were accepted by the arsenal the state stamp of Mazir i Sharif placed on the blades. This seems likely given the fact that tribal Khyber blades are found with these hilts, and state stamped accordingly......the are Gurkha kukris known also stamped with the Mazir i Sharif mark, and obviously not produced there.

BTW, do you have Dmitry Milerosov's 2019 book on Afghan weapons?

Photo-my example date 1893

I might also add that the design of these sword blades is unique, and so are the hilts, being a combination of some generic British handle with an Indian style finger guard. Then again the Afghan shashka is also unique to Afghanistan- the late 19th century was a very interesting time in the world of Afghan edged weapons- it would have been exceedingly simple for the Afghan ruler to draw up a contract with Wilkinson or whatever manufacturing house to provide him with all the swords and bayonets he needed but he seems to have made an effort to make it all domestically.