Designing as a variation of tradition

[Tim Simmons]

This is the handle I made on a shasqa for a Mr Big in Kazakstan. I only work in wax but as you can see it is a pretty important part, it is then finnished and assembled by other craftsmen. I have great difficulty in getting photos of finnished work, unfortunately this is all I have, no pics of the blade or scabbard. The scabbard was steel lined and covered in enameled silver section of simmilar patterns to the blade. The name on the blade is Firmin and sons plc est 1677 though talking to the silversmith I think it was actually made in Germany. What you see here is a snow leopard, silver gilt, pearls, and blue enamel. The fuller is gilt and blued. Tim