Bosnian Bichaq

[Pitt1999]

I’ve got a few of these but these examples are the standouts in my group. Not necessarily for their quality, but for their interesting characteristics.

[gp]

Originally Posted by Pitt1999

I’ve got a few of these but these examples are the standouts in my group. Not necessarily for their quality, but for their interesting characteristics.

don't underestimate yours; the quality is good to very good.

Forget about Bosnian scabbards, always the poorer part as it is just very thin copper on wood ( and not the best strongest wood I dare say).
Hardly to find an undamaged scabbard.

The knives or daggers though are very interesting; can you tell us a little more? like lengths, width and such? Much obliged !

[Pitt1999]

Originally Posted by gp

don't underestimate yours; the quality is good to very good.

Forget about Bosnian scabbards, always the poorer part as it is just very thin copper on wood ( and not the best strongest wood I dare say).
Hardly to find an undamaged scabbard.

The knives or daggers though are very interesting; can you tell us a little more? like lengths, width and such? Much obliged !

I've added some photos that show the lengths of each of these knives. Interestingly they are all nearly the same in terms of blade width, all about 1 inch wide with almost negligible variation.

I got lucky with the two knives that I call either bird beak pommels or frog mouth pommels. They were purchased at two different times from two different sellers.

The other two are quite odd (to me at least) in the world of Bosnian bichaqs. The boxy bone hilted bichaq lacks the refinement these knives normally have. As you can see the hilt is very square and the "bolster" is just pieces of copper/brass pinned to the tang. The scabbard is also very basic being a sheet of copper/brass formed to the shape of the blade with very thin wood shims friction fit inside to help retain the blade. The contrast is the very nice engraving of "Sarajevo" on one side of the scabbard.

The horn hilted bichaq stands out by having the previously noted horn hilt. It is also a simple hilt, lacking ears or another form of shaped pommel normally seen on these knives. The horn scales are also mostly unadorned with only three small unknown red inserts on each side of the hilt. The scabbard is some type of thin iron/steel sheet that was either painted or otherwise blackened over a wood core. I am unsure if this scabbard is original to this knife however. The scabbard was clearly carved to accept the bolster but when sheathing the knife it is stopped before the bolster can go in, but far enough to where the blade is completely sheathed. The fit is good and tight though so this was probably an error during manufacture. I also got a slightly better picture of this knives mark, which is quite different from the usual shamshir mark normally seen on these.

[gp]

Thank you! The top 2 with the “open mouth” handle are very nice and I believe you outbid me in the auction as I do not have this type of Bosnian at all…
Congrats again!

The third one with Sarajevo inscribed on the scabbard looks like some of the Bosnian knives I have, based upon the decoration marking on the blade. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...4&postcount=21
A very nice one but simple made; could be a local little maker at the country side or a non professional who still could make a little nice item and around 1900 perhaps 1910 even…

The last ( the one with the red dots) could also be from other Balkan countries or another region in the Ottoman empire. I do not dare to determine its origin….