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Post by terrence on Jun 6, 2022 19:02:01 GMT
Hi All,
This is my first Thread as I am a brand new member  but I intend to make further use of this excellent Forum as I have quite a few edged weapons in storage in Austria that I would like to know more about when I am there. (I'm in the UK at the moment). My wife's Grandfather was a professional soldier in the German Army in BOTH World Wars. In WW1 he fought in the Balkans and later wrote a book about it called 'Bosniak' and in WW2 he was in charge of Guderian's communications from day one in Poland till the very last day of the war against the Russians. While he was in the Balkans he acquired among other things a few mementos from the area including two really nice C19 daggers and their scabbards. Their condition is outstanding with barely a mark as can be clearly see in the photos. They measure 27cms and 38cms total length. I have absolutely no idea exactly what they are and I was hoping that one of you reading this might be able to advise me. I would really like to know a bit about them and need to write a description that makes sense as, if I'm 100% honest I intend to sell them as I have no further need for them. What exactly are they, have they had #any special function or are they purely decorative? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance, Terry
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Post by randomnobody on Jun 6, 2022 20:04:25 GMT
Welcome to the forum. Very interesting daggers; sadly, I don't know much about them. I can say the larger is reminiscent of a kindjal, but I'm not sure if I'd call it such directly as I don't know how common they were in Bosnia or if they had a different name there.
Both seem very heavily decorated, but while this usually speaks to tourist-level stuff, this part of the world has tended to embellish its weapons, so it's hard to say.
Hopefully someone who knows better can tell you more, I just wanted to say I thought they looked neat.
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Post by Murffy on Jun 7, 2022 14:29:21 GMT
They are cool looking knives, especially the one with the bowie-style blade. But the bowie-style makes me suspect they're not traditional. Just my thought; I'm not expert enough to say either way.
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Post by treeslicer on Jun 7, 2022 15:37:40 GMT
Hi All,
This is my first Thread as I am a brand new member but I intend to make further use of this excellent Forum as I have quite a few edged weapons in storage in Austria that I would like to know more about when I am there. (I'm in the UK at the moment). My wife's Grandfather was a professional soldier in the German Army in BOTH World Wars. In WW1 he fought in the Balkans and later wrote a book about it called 'Bosniak' and in WW2 he was in charge of Guderian's communications from day one in Poland till the very last day of the war against the Russians. While he was in the Balkans he acquired among other things a few mementos from the area including two really nice C19 daggers and their scabbards. Their condition is outstanding with barely a mark as can be clearly see in the photos. They measure 27cms and 38cms total length. I have absolutely no idea exactly what they are and I was hoping that one of you reading this might be able to advise me. I would really like to know a bit about them and need to write a description that makes sense as, if I'm 100% honest I intend to sell them as I have no further need for them. What exactly are they, have they had #any special function or are they purely decorative? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance, Terry
Both the daggers you have are ornate versions of known local Bosnian types with Turkish roots. The single edged knife is an unusually fancy bichaq, but I don't know what the other one is properly called. You need to check out www.vikingsword.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=2 |
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Post by terrence on Jun 7, 2022 16:19:59 GMT
Thank you for the replies, much appreciated.
(for Murffy)....just to say that the daggers must both be 100% genuine and date at least back to 1918 and probably quite a few years before that date. My wifes grandfather who was in the Austrian Army during WW1 left Serbia/Bosnia at the end of WW1, so they cannot be any later than that date.
Cheers,
Terry.
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Post by Murffy on Jun 8, 2022 14:38:26 GMT
Thank you for the replies, much appreciated. (for Murffy)....just to say that the daggers must both be 100% genuine and date at least back to 1918 and probably quite a few years before that date. My wifes grandfather who was in the Austrian Army during WW1 left Serbia/Bosnia at the end of WW1, so they cannot be any later than that date. Cheers, Terry. Good to know, terrence. I don't doubt their age or provenance. The traditional bichaq that treeslicer pointed to doesn't have a drop point or a fuller. I think bowie knives were quite common around the world by the late 19th century. They could have been an influence on the piece you've got. Terms like "traditional" and "authentic" can be problematic, imo. I think it's safe to say that most blades of a certain type within a culture varied quite a bit from maker to maker and were subject to influence from outside sources. |
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but I intend to make further use of this excellent Forum as I have quite a few edged weapons in storage in Austria that I would like to know more about when I am there. (I'm in the UK at the moment).
