Armenian yataghan

[Marius66]

Excuse me the question, but which is the edged side in this yatagan ??
Can it be used in fight or just déco ? It don't look like a kopesh

Or can both sides be sharpened ? Especially at the end on the blade/ the ''sickle'' part

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Marius66

Excuse me the question, but which is the edged side in this yatagan ??
Can it be used in fight or just déco ? ...

The three fullers run along the spine of the blade. The cutting edge is along the lower part of the blade in the first image. Perhaps its new owner can tell us if it has a partly sharpened back edge.

I think this one is primarily decorative (but probably functional if the blade is sharp).

[Jim McDougall]

This is an atavistic weapon intended as something prestigious and likely a votive element for ceremonial or traditional presence.

I have seen similar examples with this peaked pommel hilt instead of the horned or cleft types, and these dramatically parabolic blades are primarily embellishments, not pragmatically intended.

This type seems related to ancient forms having to do with the Near East, and Egypt into the Bronze Age, which include the Egyptian 'khopesh' and the 'sapara' which is a related form attributed to peoples in the Near East regions.

Naturally the appearance of these curious weapons from Anatolian, Transcaucasian and 'Armenian' regions are not 'to the letter' as far as the 'khopesh' and other 'sickle' type (for dramatic curve) swords from iconographic sources, as they are 'atavistic' interpretations. not intended as exact copies.

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

This is an atavistic weapon intended as something prestigious and likely a votive element for ceremonial or traditional presence.

I have seen similar examples with this peaked pommel hilt instead of the horned or cleft types, and these dramatically parabolic blades are primarily embellishments, not pragmatically intended.

Marius66 if you look closely at the convex edge you can see the awl marks from the entrustment procedures. So, it was never sharpened again after manufacture. With the decoration so close to the edge you would need to sharpen at an incredibly acute angle, probably meeting at 90 degrees, 45 degrees or more of an angle from the sharpening stone. If used a very durable edge roughly the edge of a non-race tuned ski, but not very sharp. The concave edge looks to be ground to have for lack of a better term a yelman. As Ian said you would have to examine it to see if it was ever sharpened, but since the primary edge was never maintained the false edge probably wasn't either.

I would like the see a picture of the edge around the center of percussion. In some ways this reminds me of some of the ceremonial knives in Elgood's Hindu Arms and Ritual in terms of practicality as a weapon.