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LOT 1096
Ottoman Inscribed Pattern-Welded Yatagan Sabre
C.1800 A.D.
31 1/2 in. (650 grams, 79.5 cm).
With a pattern-welded 'damascened' single-edged T-section blade with swept profile, guard with quadrant profile with rosettes, antler grip with projecting ears; silver-inlaid name panel to one face, with silver-inlaid arabesque panel to the other; blade inscribed with the Arabic year '1172'; silver maker's mark and inscription either side of the blade.
ProvenanceAcquired in the 1970s.
Ex collection of a London gentleman.
See Nicolle, D., Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775-1820, London, 1998; Tirri, A.C., Islamic Weapons: Maghrib to Moghul, Indigo, 2003.
FootnotesThe yatagan is a long knife or short sabre that lacks a guard for the hand at the juncture of blade and hilt, and that usually has a double-curve to the edge and an almost straight back. It was one of the favoured side-arms of the Janissary infantry regiments. Yatagans were carried by the Zeibeks, who lived on the Ionian coast, around Smyrna.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1096
Ottoman Inscribed Pattern-Welded Yatagan Sabre
Sold for (Inc. bp): £585
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Scythian Iron Akinakes Sword with Decorations
4th century B.C.Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £750
Of Central Asian typology, strong hilt and narrow ogival guard with Steppe style ornamentation, tipped hilt, triangular tapering blade fitted with a central triangular blood channel with sixteen grooves. 481 grams, 58.5 cm
Ex private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1980s. Acquired from the above, 2004.
The akinakes was a characteristic Scythian type of weaponry, which was used throughout their history (7th-3rd centuries B.C.). With the departure of the Scythians from the steppe in the 3rd century B.C., and the appearance of the Sarmatian tribes in the Northern Black Sea region in the 2nd-1st centuries B.C., Sarmatian types of bladed weapons spread in the region. This particular shape of akinakes belongs to the nomadic cultures of Central Asia. -
Anglo-Saxon Iron Socketted Arrowhead
Circa 6th-8th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Comprising a triangular leaf-shaped blade with tapering socket. 10 grams, 87 mm
Found Cambridgeshire, UK. -
Luristan Bronze Dirk
Circa 11th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
With heavy penannular rib, tapering triangular blade and round shoulders, flanged hilt with straight grip, widening to a fan-shaped pommel; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 554 grams total, 35 cm (37.5 cm including stand)
Ex P.A., Hertfordshire, UK, specialist collection of Greek art, 1980-1990s.
These short daggers and dirks were mainly cast in one piece, and especially the penannular rib was cast on at the same time with handle and blade according to Medvedskaya. On the contrary, Moorey said that the penannular rib was later cast on the dirk, possibly to strengthen a weak point at the junction of hilt and blade.
