Mysterious Afghan Military Sabre

[Sakalord364]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

That would be a good assumption ideally, but in the volatile tribal regions in Afghanistan, local artisans busily refurbish and repurpose weaponry constantly as they have for centuries. It is true that items that end up in the bazaars (i.e. Chicken Street) up to modern times reflect a lot of such innovation, but many may have actually been in use by tribesmen prior to arriving there.

As noted, these swords are not 'old' in arms collecting parlance as we are used to, but they were still using swords in warfare well into 20th century. These scabbards had wood inserts and would be subject to cracking etc. (mine has lost most of the already replaced leather) so even with newer leather cover, these bands probably were to secure the wood if damaged.

This example seems likely to be from the period around 3rd Afghan war (1919+) and probably refurbished any number of times over the years. With ethnographic weaponry, especially from these regions, it is more about the 'exotica' and turbulent history of these regions, the warriors and their arms, than age.

Though couldn’t the owner just commission a new scabbard instead of trying to repair it like this?

[ariel]

Originally Posted by Sakalord364

Though couldn’t the owner just commission a new scabbard instead of trying to repair it like this?

It's a good repair, perhaps even better than a new scabbard: wood and leather would be cut thru in a couple of years, but brass reinforcements will hold almost forever.

A significantly more interesting question is how was it carried? Where are its suspension rings?

[Sakalord364]

Originally Posted by ariel

It's a good repair, perhaps even better than a new scabbard: wood and leather would be cut thru in a couple of years, but brass reinforcements will hold almost forever.

A significantly more interesting question is how was it carried? Where are its suspension rings?

It does have a lone suspension ring, similar to other European sabres of the period.

Though I have noticed that some Afghans pulwars do not have any suspension rings at all, which is odd because securing your sword properly is very important for the cavalry based warfare that Afghans specialized in. So I’m assuming these are all from the late 1800s when cavalry slowly started to become obsolete. Here you can see this warrior suspends his pulwar from a series of leather straps

[mahratt]

Originally Posted by Sakalord364

It does have a lone suspension ring, similar to other European sabres of the period.

Thank you very much for the photo. The photo once again confirms that your sabre is a certain imitation of “regulation Khyber knives”: