Silver yataghan with inscription

[Yannis]

Looking again this piece I am not sure that silverwork is from Epirus. It is very good repousse work but it lacks any charachteristic motives from the area.

[not2sharp]

What is that deep stamp? I have seen this on a number of old weapons. Was this some kind of popular religious icon, or a government inspection mark?

n2s

[Yannis]

It is the makers mark. Common in yataghans with good blades

[not2sharp]

Originally Posted by Yannis

It is the makers mark. Common in yataghans with good blades

Do you mean as in a maker, or as a general practice by all makers; and, if the latter, has anyone tried to catalog them?

n2s

[Rivkin]

Originally Posted by not2sharp

Do you mean as in a maker, or as a general practice by all makers; and, if the latter, has anyone tried to catalog them?

n2s

Astvatsaturjan has a number of them for caucasian makers; however, they are very often too alike to each other (typically "heart" or "vase" with some arabic insription) to reliably distinguish them. Another kind of stamp is an arsenal mark, but since there were only 2-3 large armories in the middle east that samped their items, those are somewhat rare.

[not2sharp]

Originally Posted by Rivkin

Astvatsaturjan has a number of them for caucasian makers; however, they are very often too alike to each other (typically "heart" or "vase" with some arabic insription) to reliably distinguish them. Another kind of stamp is an arsenal mark, but since there were only 2-3 large armories in the middle east that samped their items, those are somewhat rare.

It would seem pointless to go through the trouble of marking a blade if the end result is indistinguishable. I wonder if these marks may have been associated more with a maker's guild rather then individual makers.

n2s

[Yannis]

In this particular sword the mark is very clear. I have seen many others where you cannot figure out what they show.

[Rivkin]

The usualy story is that people are trying to put too long signatures in their marks - as a result it is somewhat unclear what you have -"all", "mu" or "s". Taking into account that these marks tend to wear off, many of them are completely unintelligable.

Most of them are not guilds, they are usually something like "Amal Muhammed" - made by Muhammed.

Originally Posted by not2sharp

It would seem pointless to go through the trouble of marking a blade if the end result is indistinguishable. I wonder if these marks may have been associated more with a maker's guild rather then individual makers.

n2s