Seldom seen Kilic type

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by ALEX

Here is a provenanced example of yelman'ed shamshir dated to the early 19th C. I've seen a few similarly-shaped/yelman'ed shamshirs also dated to 19th C.
Here is an "official" description:

THE OTTOMAN SILVER-MOUNTED SHAMSHIR PRESENTED TO CAPTAIN COLIN MACKAY OF BIGHOUSE BY MOHAMMED ALI PASHA OF EGYPT IN 1807 FOLLOWING HIS COMMAND OF THE GRENADIER COMPANY OF THE 2ND BATTALION OF THE 78TH REGIMENT OF FOOT AT EL HAMET IN 1807 ...

Calling these blades Shamshir or Kilij is a matter of personal taste, and dating/naming them based on the presence of yelman alone... not that easy.

Indeed many terms in the arms world are a matter of taste , easy is to say sabre

I have seen many of these subtle yelman kilij dated from the ealry 1600s through to the early 1900s. One in particular carrying very good provenance from the early 1600s.

It is unfortunate that the provenance in the example presented only carries weight as so far as the date of gifting, not manufacture.

There are even similar looking blades dating to the second half of the 16th century that carry 19th century fittings......