In the interest of full disclosure: I participated in the original discussion and opposed the "Tatar" attribution. My interpretation was that of a somewhat strange Afghani/ North Indian origin.
The blade and the handle are made en suite, as witnessed by identical piercing designs , that are regularly seen on Afghani examples ( poulowar here makes the point). The crossguard is of a venerable Iranian style. The horn handle with multiple small nails is very reminescent of Afghani examples. The bend of the handle does not look very Tatar to me( as seen on Ordynkas) because it starts from the bottom part of the handle, and not from the top one. The metal hanging part on the pommel looks also very Afghani. The wootz blade also hints at Afghani/North Indian origin. The geometry of the blade ( flat with mail-piercing tip) is often seen on North Indian spears.
There are few documented Crimean knives ( several excavated ones were shown on another Forum, as part of the original discussion), but they all looked yataghan-ish and had no resemblance to the present one.
In summary, with the abundance of features shared with Afghani/NI examples and with not a single one shared with the (few known) Crimean Tatar ones, one is on sufficiently firm grounds attributing it to the former part of the world.
These were my main points. Please provide counter-arguments and prove me wrong.
|