Turkish -Persian shamshir sword

eftihis · 6th January 2020, 10:00 PM

As far as i learned the blade is persian with the stamps of Assadolah and Shah Abbas and teh date 1121 which corresponds to 1709 Christian. The scabbard looks late 18th century Turkish, but the inscription on the scabbard seems Persian. Can anybody translate it?

ALEX · 7th January 2020, 10:41 AM

Eftihis,
What a nice complete example! I agree with your observations and assessment of this Ottoman shamshir with Persian blade. There are 3 punch marks on the scabbard next to the inscription. I recognize the middle one as being silver essay mark, and another on the left looks like Tughra. Perhaps it'll be possible to determine the era of the ruling Sultan by this Tughra.

ariel · 7th January 2020, 12:36 PM

Despite being perennial adversaries ( or maybe because of that) Shia Persians and Sunni Ottomans adopted each other’s weapons.
Each preserved generic definitions of the sword in their native language ( Kilij in Turkey, Shamshir in Iran), but qualified them by adding the origin ( or pattern) of the blade.
Thus, in Turkey a sword like the one shown here would be called Kilij Ajemi ( literally, Persian Kilij), whereas a Persian sword with a yelman-ed blade would be locally called Shamshir Torki ( Turkish Shamshir).

No matter how we look at it, Eftichis’ example can be best defined in English as Beautiful Sword :-)

I ‘d love to see the blade after etching.

mariusgmioc · 7th January 2020, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ariel

I ‘d love to see the blade after etching.

Me too! I bet it is wootz!

6th January 2020, 10:00 PM	#1
eftihis Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chania Crete Greece Posts: 512	Turkish -Persian shamshir sword As far as i learned the blade is persian with the stamps of Assadolah and Shah Abbas and teh date 1121 which corresponds to 1709 Christian. The scabbard looks late 18th century Turkish, but the inscription on the scabbard seems Persian. Can anybody translate it? Attached Images

7th January 2020, 10:41 AM	#2
ALEX Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 936	Eftihis, What a nice complete example! I agree with your observations and assessment of this Ottoman shamshir with Persian blade. There are 3 punch marks on the scabbard next to the inscription. I recognize the middle one as being silver essay mark, and another on the left looks like Tughra. Perhaps it'll be possible to determine the era of the ruling Sultan by this Tughra.

7th January 2020, 12:36 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Despite being perennial adversaries ( or maybe because of that) Shia Persians and Sunni Ottomans adopted each other’s weapons. Each preserved generic definitions of the sword in their native language ( Kilij in Turkey, Shamshir in Iran), but qualified them by adding the origin ( or pattern) of the blade. Thus, in Turkey a sword like the one shown here would be called Kilij Ajemi ( literally, Persian Kilij), whereas a Persian sword with a yelman-ed blade would be locally called Shamshir Torki ( Turkish Shamshir). No matter how we look at it, Eftichis’ example can be best defined in English as Beautiful Sword :-) I ‘d love to see the blade after etching.