A Turkish Early Tamzin Period Regulation Officer Sabre.
Dec 25, 2021 10:42:18 GMT
Post by Uhlan on Dec 25, 2021 10:42:18 GMT
A Turkish Regulation Officer Sabre from the Early Tamzin Period. (1850 - 1875)
Introduction.
The Ottoman Empire ruled over most of south-eastern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. This sword is an interesting example of an Ottoman Empire military officer’s weapon and can be described as a non-traditional Ottoman kilij.
It is not clear where the sabres were made.
A more traditional Kilij.
Kilij was essentially the word for sword but became associated with a particular pattern. Traditionally the kilij has a broad blade and wide yelman commencing with a sharp curve about two-thirds towards the tip. There can be confusion over the correct classification of some Ottoman sabres as they exhibit characteristics from several cultures from across the Ottoman Empire. This sword could also and probably more accurately, be described as an Ottoman sabre. (Courtesy of Bygone Blades)
I tried to dig for more information about the particular model under discussion here and on the diverse later, more Western influenced (read German), line of Officers sabres of the period, but to no avail.
As is my want, I did this search with keywords translated to Turkish, but it was a dead end.
All my searches came up with a half page of results at best.
Lots of pre 19th century kilij, lots of replicas thereof and lots of propaganda, but about the topic at hand, nothing. It looks that there is a big 404 out on information about the period.
I wonder why this is?
I bought this sabre as part of a large consignment. The state of neglect was such that I would have never bought it in any other way.
At the time I just oiled and stored it and forgot about it until recently when digging through ,,stuff''.
Somehow these poor remains (it hardly could be called a sabre anymore) took my fancy and I decided to try to give it back some of its former self. The effort of conservation paid off to a degree, though some of the ravages of neglect could not be erased.
Too deep, too far gone.
I hope you may appreciate the results, poor as they may be, of what I tried to do.
Blade design.
The 780mm slightly curved blade has a single edge and three fullers, each longer than the previous one. The first fuller is only 130mm long, commencing directly below the flat spine. The blade narrows slightly from 31mm at the shoulder down to 26mm at the end of the first fuller. This section could be described as the first yelman. The second and widest fuller is approximately 10mm wide and runs for 490mm. The third and final fuller is the same width as the first, being 3.5mm wide and runs for 540mm. All three fullers end 80mm from the blade shoulder.
The blade does have a second narrow yelman. Commencing just before the end of the second fuller the blade widens to 29mm before narrowing to a spear point. The blade is double-edged for the last 230mm.
First yelman. Ricasso to the right.
Second yelman up the blade. Ricasso to the right.
There are some file marks around the start of the yelmans and around the ring mounts on the scabbard and the vibe I get overall is that it was not made at Solingen under Turkish government contract.
Too many little things that would not have been tolerated at Solingen, if that were to be the case, show a probable Turkish or other provenance.
That said, it is a very good and well made blade. It hits the spot.
No forge flaws came up under the polish. Fullers were straight and the lines strong and well executed.
There are no stamps or other marks, not even from a Turkish forge, armoury or furbisher.
The small brass rings are the originals. It is said that scabbards with these small and frankly quite weak rings (compared with the large iron ,,battle'' rings) were merely made for ceremonial needs, but in this case I beg to differ.
The many battle scars on the scabbard attest to serious use, of prolonged periods of extreme stress, tiny brass rings be damned.
Variants.
These being Officers sabres and Officers being, well,Officers everywhere on this globe, variants would have to turn up sooner than later.
Much depended on financial means.
Some sabres had silver mounts on a more traditional leather covered wood scabbard, some had fancy guards with often very nice engraved patterns. For the most part, as far as I can tell, the blades were quite standard, but now and then other blade designs are to be seen.
This one, with a more traditional hilt but with a Spadroon or Scottish basket hilt back blade I want badly!
Work.
There was quite a lot of that. The sabre had been neglected for years, banged about back when, beaten up, stomped on and banged about some more. The blade with pitting which only to some degree could be removed, the tip section bearing the brunt with deep pitting, a virtually erased ridge and a scabbard looking like the dark side of the moon.
Remnants of a once nice high polish could be detected only in some spots on the walls of the larger fuller.
These ,,windows'' were to be my guide.
The horn grip had dried out and was sticky with dirt and old wax and God Knows What. Lots of GKW.
The scabbard was made of German silver, a very shabby metal, which even at the best of times looks cheap and rather nasty. After cleaning it up I could not resist to flash plate it with Sterling silver.
Now it looks much better but the dents, scars and whatevers still remain, testament to rather a lot of activity.
I tried to clean the horn with some soap and hot water but had to use acetone to get rid of the waxy stuff. There were some remnants coming up where one could see the black paint that once covered the grip.
I used a leather restoration cum colour compound to enhance the black a bit. Horn reacts well to this sort of treatment. In places the assorted colours of the horn still shimmer through and I like that.
Removed the dirt from the brass parts with acetone and cleared the crud from the engraved lines with toothpicks.
The blade could only be restored to some extent. I started with 120 grid wrapped around the little block on the flats and a very small role of 240 in the wide fullers. Removed the red rust and immense amount of crud under the langets and polished right up to the bottom of the grip. It now looks like new under there. The narrow fullers I had to do with coarse (car engine) cylinder polishing compound on Q tips for starters.
The cutting edge resembling a hacksaw I let be, as this is evidence of ,,interesting times''.
The rest was plain sailing through the grids. Restored the faded ridge lines running from tip to fuller on the tip section. The old and battered skin is still visible here and there under the new polish, but that is how it is. Many blemishes remain as they are too deep to remove. In short, I polished the heck out of the old neglected blade to get the finish as high and deep as I could. Loss of material was however astoundingly minimal. After 240 to 400 grid there is not much more debris coming off anyway. With these grids starts the polish.
There is nothing more that can be done I think. The sabre now looks, to some extent, like a sabre again with a nice deep and hard gleaming, mirror steel blade with strong and sharp lines.
A battle hardened veteran with the scars included.
Numbers.
LOA : 96 cm.
WOA : 1330 grams.
BL : 80.5 cm.
BLW : 31 mm.
BLTH: 8-9 mm - 6 - 5 - 3 - 2 mm.
SL : 93.5 cm.
SW : 745 grams.
POB : 17 cm from guard.
DoC : 1".
Handling. (A personal view)
Not much to say about that.
The grip is too smooth and too slender for my hands, though with gauntlets it gets better.
The sabre's POB makes it come close to a Cavalry sabre, but this one is not as well balanced.
The strain on the wrist is considerable and this sabre here being a semi Westernised model this is saying something. Traditional Kilij had even more weight in the tip or yelman section, so it must have been worse. There are Turkish training videos around that emphasize this training of the wrist.
With training it all could be far better, but to me, it is not a sabre that comes as a natural fit.
It does not really click.
It is not bad in any way, seen far worse, but this one may just not be my thing.
Conclusion.
Though not many are still around, this is reflected in the price I am afraid, every now and then one does pop up in the market. The way I see it, this particular model is a reflection of the struggles at the time between those of the Turkish elites who saw an urgent need for modernisation as a ways to survival of the Empire and a , probably severely traumatized, conservative faction who just wanted to go on with the old ways. This sabre shows a bit of both points of view I think and therefore it is an interesting artifact.
At least to me it is.
I am glad I picked this one up again and was able to give it a good once over.
The package is now cleaned, polished and protected by a nice coat of Ren Wax.
With a bit of luck it could survive another hundred years.
Cheers.
Notes.
Turkish Model 1909 Cavalry Sabre | SBG Sword Forum :: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/53511/turkish-model-1909-cavalry-sabre
Ottoman Turkish 1909 pattern officers' sword - Ethnographic Arms & Armour :: www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=20674
weapons - Can anyone identify this sword, believe to be Ottoman Empire (Turkish)? - History Stack Exchange :: history.stackexchange.com/questions/51268/can-anyone-identify-this-sword-believe-to-be-ottoman-empire-turkish
Ottoman Uniforms - 1909 TILL 1914 OTTOMAN ARMY UNIFORMS, AND BRANCH OF SERVICE COLORS (1909 TILL 1916) :: www.ottoman-uniforms.com/1909-till-1914-ottoman-army-uniforms-and-branch-of-service-colors-1909-till-1916/
Shashka, Turkish and Mystery Sabre. | SBG Sword Forum :: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/42406/shashka-turkish-mystery-sabre
TURKISH SABRES AND KNIVES: A Description from c. 1600 :: www.spanishswordbook.com/2021/01/11/turkish-sabres-and-knives-a-description-from-c-1600/
Ottoman wiki :: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Army_(1861%E2%80%931922)
The Military Of The Ottoman Empire: Origins And History :: www.realmofhistory.com/2019/11/04/10-facts-ottoman-empire-army/
Tanzimat - Wikipedia :: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzimat
Kilij – The Sword of Vlad the Impaler – Heritage Arms Society Inc :: heritagearmssa.com/2017/11/10/kilij-the-sword-of-vlad-the-impaler/
Very informative PDF :: dokumen.pub/an-ottoman-statesman-in-war-amp-peace-ahmed-resmi-efendi-1700-1783-9004101160-9789004101166.html
"Geniş sözlerimiz harika!" Kılıçlar ve kısa sözcükler 1812 :: tr.topwar.ru/174110-nashi-palashi-chudo-horoshi-sabli-i-palashi-1812-goda.html
Wrist training and more interesting vids in the side bar ::