A hunting sword with Damascus blade of Yataghan type

[A. G. Maisey]

Tatyana, production of mechanical damascus was widespread and not at all uncommon in Britain and Western Europe from the 1500's through to the end of the 19th century. It was used for bladed weapons and for gun barrels. Some superb examples exist which in my opinion equal or exceed the beauty of mechanical damascus produced in other parts of the world.

Two excellent references are:-

Damaszener Stahl - Manfred Sachse, I have the English edition:- ISBN 3-514-00522-2

On Damascus Steel - Leo S. Figiel, ISBN 0-9628711-0-9 & ISBN 0-9628711-1-7

This particular sword that you have shown is outside my area of expertise, so I will not express an opinion on place of origin, however, it was not uncommon for sword smiths in Western Europe to copy Eastern styles.In fact, Germany has a long tradition of highly skilled damascus smiths, who continued into the era of WWII and after. One exceptionally skilled smith was Paul Muller who worked during the WWII period. An example of his work is shown below. As you will understand, this sword of yours does not need to be particularly old to be particularly beautiful and valuable.