OTTOMAN EMPIRE (BALKAN) SILVER MOUNTED YATAGAN SWORD
Superb quality antique 18th -19th century silver mounted Turkish Ottoman Islamic sword ("Yatagan, Yataghan"). A curved single-edged blade, decorated on both sides in silver koftgari, with panels of Arabic calligraphic inscriptions and circular designs. The blade meets the hilt in an elaborate decorative attachment incorporating silver diamonds, orbs, and a pink coral cabochon. The grip, which divides into two pommels, is likewise adorned with fifteen pink coral cabochons and intricate silver wire braiding. The scabbard is just as attractive, with a wood interior sheathed in hammered silver bearing a filigree design and 23 pink coral cabochons (one missing) encircling the throat. The entire presentation is in excellent condition, one of the finest of its type and never before offered at auction. The Yatagan sword was very popular, not only in Turkey, but also in many Balkan states, and some Eastern European countries such as Ukraine and Hungary.