Ottoman Shamshir

Presented here is a very fine Turkish Shamshir sword from the Ottoman period desired by every collector of Eastern arms. The 80 cm long blade is forged from fine wootzDamascussteel. The handle has rhino horn grips with silver crossguard and grips strap. Beautiful tooled leather covered scabbard with silver spiral stitching and two engraved silver diamond shaped mounts and suspension rings. All scabbard mounts are stamped with a Tughra and the silver chape is inscribed in the back in arabic script 'krovatoryali Halîl 1257' corresponding to Gregorian date 1840. Total length is 96cm. Good condition. The blade has extensive scattered pitting and shows signs of previous over-etching but nothing affecting thesolidness of the blade. (Seepictures) Some lacuna in the leather. This item has been in a private Belgium collection for nearly 50 years. Very impressive sword. Blade thickness at the forte: 5mm.