A superior example of an extremely rare type, the work of a Tiflis (Tbilisi) master. The Ottoman-style hilt wrought entirely of silver, the guard with expanded terminals, finely engraved, nielloed and heavily gilded overall. The broad, shallowly-curved heirloom blade likewise the work of a Tiflis master, showing a faint ladder pattern and deeply inscribed in a pair of cartouches at the right forte, O JUDGE OF NEEDS! and WORK OF ASSAD ALLAH. In its leather-covered wooden scabbard, with large silver mounts, finely profiled, engraved, nielloed and heavily gilded en suite with the hilt, each struck with Georgian silver marks and inscribed on the reverse of the locked, OWNER MUSA SON OF AWAD (?) MADE BY HUSSEIN SON OF MAHMUD and the year, 1271 (1854/5 C.E.) Dated 1854/5. Minor wear. For a discussion of Tbilisi smiths, see E.G. Astvatsaturian, Weapons of the Caucasian Peoples, St. Petersburg, Atlant Publishers, 2004, p. 322-24. Overall length 88.9cm. Condition II