Yatagan

[David R]

A piece from my collection, bought off the bargain pile at a dealers. The black horn hilt scales are replacements made by me, in a style I remembered from a previous piece I owned...the originals were long gone and painted plaster used to substitute.
Any comments on possible origin, and hopefully a translation of the inscription are invited and welcomed. The engraving is much cruder than the workmanship of the sword, so I guess done some time later.

[Dom]

Originally Posted by David R

A piece from my collection, bought off the bargain pile at a dealers. The black horn hilt scales are replacements made by me, in a style I remembered from a previous piece I owned...the originals were long gone and painted plaster used to substitute.
Any comments on possible origin, and hopefully a translation of the inscription are invited and welcomed. The engraving is much cruder than the workmanship of the sword, so I guess done some time later.

Hi Dav
congratulations ... nice yatagan, very good reconstitution for the hilt
if only i could know from where I could get the corals ...
the quality of the engraving, will not help for a translation
any way, it's not a job for me, surely it's wrote in Turkish
except for Arabic writing, I'm useless ... sorry

à +

Dom

[David R]

Hi Dom, the corals on this piece are original to it, with one missing. I went hunting up coral for a replacement and a business down the road sells coral cabachons in a variety of sizes, but alas not the rich red of these, only a pale pink colour.
I think I was lucky with this one as well, I think the botched grips it had caused others to overlook it.

[David R]

Any Balkan, Turkish, fans out there?

[AJ1356]

The inscription is hard to read but it is a common one on many Islamic swords. It basically reads, No man like Ali not sword like Zulfiqaar.

[David R]

I expected, hoped for, a standard motto or slogan. The engraving is so crudely done I think anything original would be incomprehensable. Pity really in a way, as the sword itself is nicely made.

[SERGIU]

you made the horn hilt scales ? great job, sir .
did you heat the horns in fire? ottoman and balkan makers had a specific technique to give form to the eared grips, with fire and special tools, I watched turkish tv ,a show named Ellerin Turkusu where they showed how it was done.

[David R]

I simply cut the horn scales from some buffalo horn I had in store. I had owned (but sold on years ago) a yataghan before, and modeled these on what I remembered of it. I used fairly thick pieces, so I imagine the more sophisticated method of heating and shaping saves material, and probably produces a stronger piece of work.

[Zifir]

Hi,
It is little bit hard to see the script as result of the reflection, especially the last part but it is:

La feta ila Ali la seyf ila zülfikar: There is no hero like Ali, there is no sword like his sword, zulfikar.

Best,
Zifir

[David R]

One of the things I really appreciate about this site is the wide scope of knowledge and experience available. Thankyou Zifir and AJ1356 for the translation.

[LewisB]

David:

Lovely yat, sir. Could you comment about the tang? Full length, full width? Reduced, a la some of the tulwars I have seen?

I'm sorry to offer such elementary questions, but I'm still a beginning student, and I don't know much about the yataghan (in particular).

[David R]

The tang is flat and of the same profile as the grip, the ears project/flare well beyond the grip/tang. The tang is wrapped with a decorative brass strip, and has a repoused collar where it joins the blade, filled in this case with plaster....which I need to remove and replace with a more stable material some day. This was a bit of a wreck when I got it, but no complaints, I got it cheap as a result.
I had a yat' before, of much heavier construction and the collar was forged in one with the blade and flat profiled tang.

[LewisB]

Many thanks, sir.