Coral&turquoise dagger

[ariel]

Ottoman weapons were, as a rule, much "richer" than Persian and the latter frowned upon such "effeminacy". Prophet Mohammed was also not very fond of richly decorated swords, especially with golden or silver handles.
Elgood ("The arms and armour of Arabia", p. 21) recalls Stocklein's rendition of an incident when in 1515, Shah Ismail sent Sultan Selim I of Turkey(Selim the Grim) a heavily jewelled sword as an insulting present, hinting at unwarlike and effeminate Ottoman customs. Elgood suggests a different interpretation of the insult: giving a richly decorated sword was Ismail's way to say that he regarded Selim as his vassal.
Wrong message!!! Ismail was defeated by Selim who proceeded to conquer the entire Anatolia, Kurdistan and Egypt. Richly decorated Ottoman weapons were nothing to laugh about especially when wielded by the Turks....
As to Egypt, Astvatsaturyan's book shows a gorgeous Mameluke Kilij wit a profusion of coral decorations and I distinctly remember Artzi (Oriental_arms) offering a similar one. Ottoman influence, no doubt.
Glad to know that I was mistaken and the koftgari is old and genuine. Congratulations! Marvelous dagger!