I am in need of information about a sword that my grandfather found in an attic in the 20's. It is about 3 feet long with strange writing on the blade. I have sent pictures to the smithsonian, and also to a place in Russia to see if they could determine the origin of this sword, and possibly identify the language.
Smithsonian felt it was very close to a Kossack sword, stated the handle was made of bone and agreed that there is indeed writing on the blade but had no idea of the origin of the language.
When I received the information back from Russia they said it looked like a Kossack sword but was probably a bit older, they also had no idea what language is inscribed on the blade but agree that it is writing.
Does anyone know of other places I might be able to find this information? The sword was used in battle that is for certain, its very well balanced in the hand and the smithsonian said it appeared to still have bloodlike stains on the steel.
Thanks for reading.
2007-04-10 23:11:51 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The Smithsonian stated that it was a sword made for battle. It was well made, and doesnt appear common. The writing on the blade is perfectly clear, noone can tell what type of language it is though.
2007-04-11 02:26:43 · update #1
Mike the sword collector here. If you can post a few pictures of it somewhere I would be happy to try and identify it. If I can't I'm sure I can refer you to someone that can. Despite being a wonderful museum, the Smithsonian doesn't seem to be one to overly go out of their way to help one person off the street with identifying their sword. You would have better luck with small collectors like me.
2007-04-11 08:53:38 · answer #1 · answered by mercierarmory 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Try the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago, or the British Museum in London.
2007-04-11 00:26:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's spelled Cossack and Ukraine made/used them too. It doesn't have to have been used in battle for there to be blood stains on them. A sword would be good for killing farm animals for food and of course there is plenty of practice fighting. If the writer was illiterate, it could make it even harder to identify the writing.
2007-04-10 23:45:58 · answer #3 · answered by gregory_dittman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋