Shamshir hilts

ariel · 14th March 2022, 03:10 PM

Shamshirs are ,-all of them,- just sabers. Multiple countries and tribes had them, and the differences between them are primarily in the handles.
The main problem is that they were not regulated: each bladesmith , each workshop etc. had their own peculiar features and there always was a tremendous heterogeneity in the final products.
We can have only a few general rules on their dating and provenance, and even those are imperfect.

Generally, the curvature of the Persian blades increased with time, but I do not think we can date then reliably just by their curvature. Regretfully, we are relying on the dates in the cartouches and just pray the bladesmith put the correct one.

If they were forged out of wootz, we can guess: early ones usually had pretty simple and modest pattern, but those from 18-early 19 centuries might have had very complex patterns. Again, Ottoman ones usually had the simplest pattern no matter of their age, and the same is true about real Persian ones.

You are asking a terribly complex question, and I have only approximations. Sorry. Perhaps, somebody else here will be more definitive.

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14th March 2022, 03:10 PM	#2
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Shamshirs are ,-all of them,- just sabers. Multiple countries and tribes had them, and the differences between them are primarily in the handles. The main problem is that they were not regulated: each bladesmith , each workshop etc. had their own peculiar features and there always was a tremendous heterogeneity in the final products. We can have only a few general rules on their dating and provenance, and even those are imperfect. Generally, the curvature of the Persian blades increased with time, but I do not think we can date then reliably just by their curvature. Regretfully, we are relying on the dates in the cartouches and just pray the bladesmith put the correct one. If they were forged out of wootz, we can guess: early ones usually had pretty simple and modest pattern, but those from 18-early 19 centuries might have had very complex patterns. Again, Ottoman ones usually had the simplest pattern no matter of their age, and the same is true about real Persian ones. You are asking a terribly complex question, and I have only approximations. Sorry. Perhaps, somebody else here will be more definitive.