Thread: Khyber knife?
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Old 24th June 2021, 09:38 AM   #18
ariel
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Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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There is not much rhyme and reason to Afghani traditional weapons. Tribes had their local peculiar features, to which even their own village armorers subscribed quite loosely. And taking into account that similar swords were manufactured across the country, up north in various emirates in what is now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, other “stans” , India and Persia, by everyone with a hammer and an anvil ( or even a more or less flat boulder), the variability must have been enormous. Indeed, some are straight, some are recurved, diferent sizes , widths etc. I have seen pictures of contemporary Uzbeki bazaars where similar items were sold from a knife stand as just butcher knives. However, a false edge you describe is another non=traditional feature. Usually, these “ khybers” had no false edges. Would be nice to be able to see it photographed. How thick is the blade? It is a modestly unusual “khyber”, but khyber it is. Age-wise it is likely between 1830 and 1930: not a lot of cultural revolutions happened in that bizarre part of the world,,,,
In general, better pics of the different sides of the handle might be interesting. Is it wooden? Any losses?

I have been to a couple of old British bars with Indian and Afghani swords nailed to the wall. Provincial Russian museums have no monopoly on such a way of assuring that the visitors would not hack each other to pieces. I do not think that this blade was ever mounted on a “khanda” handle: the hole is quite off-center and neatly drilled. I am with the nail croud:-), a
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