OLD TURKISH SHAMSHIR

[Mervyn Mitton]

This came -in on Wednesday and I thought it would add to our meagre sword postings. I'm almost certain it is Turkish in origin - but as always - we hope for confirmation from those more experienced in this field.

General Allenby's campaigns in - what was then , Mesopotamia - covered the period 1916 to the end of the 1st World War and involved the defeat of Turkey and the re-arrangement of Her former territories into Protectorates. These included Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. With this vast area one cannot, then, say where this was recovered from - however, although a little faded from it's former glory, this sword still has the appearance of being for a senior officer.

A Shamshir is part of a generic family of swords and was a standard weapon for the army. The Indian Tulwar is part of this background and you can see the similarities in design. Both were in use for many hundreds of years and their basic design came about from battle experience. Good quality Turkish swords often had the covering for the scabbard made from Ass' skin and were bound in iron. Now faded, this one had elaborate silver designs on the metal. These continued to the cross guard and on the blade - only on the right side of the blade, where it would be seen - was an elaborate design in gold damescening. This may actually be a complicated message - we will have to wait for an expert opinion. Should it be wording , it will be a religious expression.

There are very elaborate stamps on the blade - these point upwards towards the grip and cross guard. Again, a sign of quality, they were originally outlined in gold. Hopefully, from these we will find out more about the maker and his smithy ?

The handle is of wood and is in the usual ' pistol grip ' style. There are no signs of inlay in the handle - rather a strip of cloth is wound around where the hand would hold. This is a sign that the sword was intended to be used - the cloth would grip - even if soaked in blood.

I am going to mention this post on the Turkish sub-forum - some help with identification of the maker would be good. I look forward to seeing any responses.

[Mervyn Mitton]

[Mervyn Mitton]

[Mervyn Mitton]

[Mervyn Mitton]

[Mervyn Mitton]

[Mervyn Mitton]

[Brian Wolfe]

Years ago (pre divorce) I was an edged weapons collector and I had one of these in the collection. The one I had was identified as Egyptian. Not that the grip denotes it as Egyptian but the large bulbous pommel is identical to the one I had. I do miss that collection but not the "ex".

As you are aware this style was used and traded throughout the Islamic world for centuries so it could be found in Turkey, Egypt, and the Arab countries just to name a few.

Very nice scimitar, it brought back a lot of fond memories...about the collection that is.

Regards

Brian

[Andy D]

Hello

Better try and be a ethnic weapons expert for a while,,,or so I pretend to be.

This is a Turkish Kilij (from Turkish kılıç, literally "a sword")

Similar to a shashir in many ways but mainly idnetifiable by this form of pistol grip, with bulbous pommel, Blade lengths vary a lot, usually curved, though I did own one, which was almost straight.

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello

Better try and be a ethnic weapons expert for a while,,,or so I pretend to be.

This is a Turkish Kilij (from Turkish kılıç, literally "a sword")

Similar to a shashir in many ways but mainly idnetifiable by this form of pistol grip, with bulbous pommel, Blade lengths vary a lot, usually curved, though I did own one, which was almost straight.

Welcome to the Forum Andy.

Thanks for add to the information on Mervyn's sword.

If you have edged weapons in your collection I hope you will post them.

Regards

Brian

[Mervyn Mitton]

Yes - great to have the better identification. The Indo-persian dagger is on page 2.