The Shamshir sword found its origins in Persia and later spread throughout Asia, India and the Philippines. And in these regions it became the most popular sword of its day, specially with its distinguished 30½ inch long, elegant curved blade. The Shamshir also became instantly recognizable amongst all that came into contact with it...contact via the business end too!
The Shamshir was intended for single hand operation and was consequently quite light at 1.90 lbs. It was capable of delivering a long vicious wound on anyone who was unfortunate enough to get struck by it, specially from a mounted soldier. The Shamshir was also effective at delivering different hooked style thrusts with great accuracy.
The cross section of the Shamshir's curved blade was quite narrow at 5mm but ended in an extremely sharp point and the blades syymetry does not taper until the tip. The hilts hand guard was in the style of a cross with long quillions, the handle was straight ending with a rounded offset pommel. This was to assist the hand with downward force when making a slashing cut, as the hand would try to slip off the end of the handle with the momentum.
The handles of these swords were made from numerous materials including ivory, bone, wood or animal horn. Generally the handles on the Shamshir were smooth with no knurled finish
The Shamshir was around 3 foot long overall and was quite an impressive looking weapon in its elegant leather bound scabbard with brass fittings.
The particular Shmashir as pictured at the top of this web page is for sale from ColdSteel Inc
Read a great review of this sword here..
www.sword-buyers-guide.com/arab-swords.html
ANTIQUE TURKISH SHAMSHIR
This 3 foot long long Turkish Shamshir sword is quite distinguishable because of its radically deep curved 30 inch blade, the blade of which is made from very strong and robust laminated Wootz steel.
Wootz steel is similar to Damascus steel as under inspection there are hundreds of lines in the blade caused by the lamination effect of micro carbides that are tempered in a special way. This method was developed in India around 300BC and was more technologically advanced than any other steel composites anywhere else in the world. The European scientist's around the 17th century where quite fascinated and did much research and development into this form of metallurgy with the view of making their swords the same
The Turkish Shamshir as pictured has a large steel cross guard with the quillions more than 7 inches in length, this served as a good way to block off an opponents sword strike. The handle is made from horn, it also has a silver scabbard that has been engraved the entire length which may suggest a Balkan origin or even Eastern European influence.
18TH CENTURY ANTIQUE INDO CAUCASIAN SHAMSHIR
This genuine 18th century Shimshir was made in Persia around 1750, the 30 inch blade has a nice curve to it and is also made of Damascus steel. The image below shows all of the layers of steel that the blade was laminated with to give the sword its resounding strength and durability.
Any sword that the seller claims the blade to be of either Wootz, Damascus or normal laminated steel should show lots of lines and patterns in the blade, if they are not there, then the blade is not laminated.
The hilt of this Shamshir was constructed of wood with a large offset steel pommel and cross guard, it has short languets and longer square section quillions, the sword measures 33inches long overall.
Collectors can distinguish between this example of Caucasian Shamshir and a Persian Shamshir by the characteristic Damascus pattern Wootz steel blade that is typical for Caucasians Kindjal’s blades particularly Armenian and Georgian. Also the handle is made of black wood which was typical for the Caucasians Shashka and kindjal’s hilts, as wood was more commonly available than ivory, horn or bone in the region where it was made.
THE MAMLUK SHAMSHIR
Mamluk's also translated, mamaluke's or marmeluke's were slave soldiers who converted to Islam around the 9th century and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans up to around the 16th century.
The Mamaluk Shamshir was not as curved as the traditional style and with its straighter blade it was deemed to be more of a thrusting weapon whereas the traditional style was for slashing. Often used whilst mounted on horseback, these long sharp weapons had an impact on the battlefield that in many ways helped the Mamluks to win their wars.
Over time, they became a powerful military caste and defeated the Crusaders. They became that powerful that they often seized power for themselves and one classic example was when they actually ruled Egypt for 267 years from 1250 – 1517 as the Mamluk Sultanate.
During other times in history they had significant importance in India, Iraq, and even in Napoleon's Army where they served as a corps in a number of campaigns in the early 19th Century.
Overall the Shamshir was quite an intimidating weapon and one that is now forever associated with the Arab world.
I am not affiliated with any store that sell swords, so please don't ask me to order for you.
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