Estradiot Yataghan

[TVV]

I have handled and seen quite a few "karakulaks", and this blade looks very much like one, based on overall shape, the integral bolster, the crude blade mark and the acid etch showing evidence of an inserted edge construction. If it was just a bare blade, without the two horn pieces on the hilt, I would identify it as a higher end karakulak.

That being said, the hilt is obviously different and quite possibly original - it was definitely put on the blade sometime ago. Even the fanciest karakulaks which have hilts of layers of horn and bone look nothing like this one in terms of shape and certainly in terms of the niello decoration on the rivet cap. Could it be a karakulak that was hilted somewhere in Epirus or Southern Macedonia? I honestly cannot say.

Teodor