Bebut sword

[Turkoman.khan]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

My latest piece. Not cheap but when compered to the fairly resent massive inflation of really quite ordinary ethnographic pieces, really quite good value. I was never into military stuff as it was always too expensive but these days I think the table has turned.

Now I have this piece in my hand I can see why they are rather sought after. I am gathering a small group of Imperial and Soviet Russian edged weapons and this fits nicely with the two versions of the m1881 {shashka} sabre and the M1927 Shashka. I wonder if I will ever come across the straight bladed military Kindjal which I believe was only in production for the last two years of WW1 and therefore far less common. Do any members have one to show?

All the stampings seem correct and especially nice to have the Moscow? stamping in the leather frog. The scabbard is not leather but a rubber or rubberised resin, resinous lacquer over wood. Lovley clean blade except for a spidery stain at the tip which I cannot remove without being more aggresive to the metal. I have to say that I am happy with but pricey. Ouch!!

The stamp on the leather seems tp be mr БИТКОВЪ, company name ??

Hi, Tim.

My friend from Russia sent me this information:

The Cyrillic letters "МГ" (MG) stand for the Russian abbreviation "Magazin haberdasheri". "Битков" (Bitkov) is a surname.

Alexander Alekseevich Bitkov (1871–?) was the owner of a gunsmith shop in Moscow, which supplied goods to, among other things, the Russian Imperial Army. His establishment was one of the largest in Russia in terms of the range of weapons and related goods. He emigrated from Russia in late 1918, amid the revolutionary events and the nationalization of private trade.

[Tim Simmons]

That is very cool, thank you.