Unusual Bulgarian Knife

[gp]

Originally Posted by eftihis

Hallo, here is a silver example, but i cannot tell if it comes from a specific country.
What is very interesting is the ending of the handle where we can see a lion holding an open book, an image that reminds me very much Venice.
Propably then, it comes from an area of the Balkans that was once under venetian domination or influence, and this design just continued to be made because of habit even in the 19th century under Ottoman domination.

just stumbled on a publication of the Austrian Museum of Folklore from 2004/5 about knives (126 pages) which has this one plural times and described as Ragusian (Dubrovnik); in the pics you can see some silver ones with tulip motives and the (Venetian) Lionshead. Enclosed a pic from Dubrovnik's Lionshead Fountain

the other 2 pics are knives from the surrounding region Dalmatia, made in goat's horn and the other knives for women from Southern Croatia.
The publication is very nice and in German and contain very interesting info. Even if you do not understand the lingo, it shows some nice items. The legal download is available from the museum's site :

https://www.volkskundemuseum.at/jart...8569903086.pdf

[kai]

just stumbled on a publication of the Austrian Museum of Folklore from 2004/5 about knives (145 pages)

Great, thanks a lot!

[ariel]

My Turkish friends told me that Chaku is the Turkish slang for a hoodlum’s knife.
But what is interesting , the same word is a “knife” in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Sanskrit. And,- a cherry on top,- in Gypsy/Roma.
I am wondering whether they might have been the ones to bring this word to Europe and Anatolia.

[ariel]

Tarik Kozo book “ Balkan Arms” is full of such folding knives.