Just fwiw, as I tell my customers there will always be another sword. You may have to wait, but the healthy collector keeps their priorities straight. School, education, family, etc. all come first. Lord knows I've had some marvelous pieces come by me in my world of Japanese swords. When I first started looking at Japanese swords back in the late 70's and early 80's, well, geez, there is stuff I could have had for a song. But I finished school, started a career, met my wife, eventually started a family. I missed many fine swords. But in the larger scheme of things today I don't regret missing any of them... I have more opportunities today but in reality can afford fewer of them. But I appreciate what I have and what I can afford even more because of it.

By the way, the lady who owns the Kilic has a Katar sitting on her shelf that might end up coming "out of the closet" sometime in the future. I need to talk to her about that one.

Anyway, I will take more photos probably today. The kid seems to have a bug of some sort, so I'm not going to be able to do other work today. Looks like a daddy and daughter day. So I'll take my time, set up some lights, and try to get some better shots if the kid lets me.

And in all seriousness, the plan is to put it up on ebay at a relatively low starting bid. The owner said to go ahead and do that. There is obviously always some speculation involved in pieces like this because I don't know enough to see what might be potential problems in the piece. And buyers are going to go only by photos. Heck, by all accounts this sword likely would have ended up in a yard sale at some point. But when she contacted me to take a look at a Japanese piece she had, well, I told her that there were probably better avenues for some of her stuff (that's an understatement). So it's all found money for her and she really did want the pieces to go to collectors who would appreciate them. And given the number of people who've e-mailed me about this and my hesitation to try to put a valuation on it, well, I think ebay might be the best option.

Thanks again Alina and all who helped. Say "hi" to Manoucher for me. He's a good guy and one of the people I miss.

Sorry for the delay in new photos. The kid had a cold which she promptly gave to me. So as soon as she was better I was getting sick...

anyway, a few more photos of the piece. there was a lot of scabbard junk that came off with gentle oiling. Much I left behind...

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Thanks for the new pictures Keith. I'm not much into Oriental swords, but I sure do covet that one!

Cheers,

Gordon

I can't tell if the blade is wootz or not. The metallurgy of Islamic swords really isn't my specialty - though neither are islamic swords in general. Still, those are fabulous pictures, I really have enjoyed looking at this sword.

Well, it's up on ebay with a starting bid of $1000 and no reserve (for the benefit of those who e-mailed and PM'ed about it). My userid is kdlarman. Curious to see how it will go... Either someone will get a great deal or...

Since I put it up on ebay, a few folk have asked for more pictures. So the record of this piece doesn't vanish, I'll add them here too...

[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]

If I take more, I'll add more.

Odd thing was that I assumed the crossguard was steel or iron. It is solid, but it's something non-magnetic. I don't want to clean the piece enough to figure out what the material is, but it has me curious. Just thought I should add that detail documenting this.

edit: Oops, some of the pics, especially the blade pics were too large and the forum said "no". So I'll post links to them instead.

http://summerchild.com/islam/update2.jpg

http://summerchild.com/islam/update3.jpg

http://summerchild.com/islam/update4.jpg

Keith, you have one of the most beautiful example of "Pala" I have ever seen. Kılıc (kilij) is a common name for all of sabre types in Turkish. This is a "Pala" which have a "yelman" (or in other Turkish word zırhdeldi: armour slasher) and die-struck "eyelash" mark in yatagan style (back of the blade have a salient part). İslamic8.jpg have a mark of Prophet İbrahim star, very important İslamic symbol and the phrase "La Fati ella Ali La Seif ella Zulfaghar" also is very important for Alevi (blievers of Ali) sect. May be late 17th-early 18th century. Very good collection piece. "Use it in good days"
:)

I seem to remember reading somewhere about "silvered" brass (or bronze) regarding 1 or 2 middle eastern swords I've looked at (shashkas I think). That could be what this is. Maybe Alina or someone else can correct me on this. There are several different metals that aren't magnetic, brass, bronze, silver, gold, stainless steel, and copper just to name a few (never go hunting for a brass magnet :D ). I hope this helps.

Cheers,

That would make sense as the material has a sort of silver "sheen" to it. But it doesn't feel like silver to me (I work with it a lot) . But because of the finish I am hesitant to do anything to remove the gunk on the material since I don't want to adversely affect it.

In case anyone is interested, the piece sold on ebay for a bit over $3000. Now I'm sad to see it go.

On to the next sword to ID and document...

I'm glad it went for a decent price. The lady who asked me to sell it for her isn't exactly hurting for cash, but she's been enjoying the updates and reports as I sell things for her. And I've been putting together little reports for her with what each thing turned out to be, how old, photos I took of them, that kind of stuff.

Keith , that's a magnificent sword , a fine piece of Ottoman history . From the pics alone it looks like it has serious prescence about it .

Lucky guy to have had that in your possession for a while .

Alina, I'm sure you''ll own a coupla fine pieces yourself one day