A magnificent dagger in the Trabzon style dating: 19th Century provenance: Turkey, Beautiful, curved, double-edged blade made of very fine dark damask, with triple fuller at the center, areas with rust damage at the tip. With cartouches featuring writing in Arabic language and floral motifs on both sides. Turkish verses followed by an Arabic pious phrase: 'bir ehl-i kamil usta kulu kurbani ol har içinde biten gonca güle minnet eylemem iblisin ta’lim ettiği yola minnet eylemem arabi farsi bilmeyen dile minnet eylemem
muhammad rasul allah'(Be the slave of and sacrifice for a master who is from the people of perfection. I am not grateful for the bud of a rose that ends in a thorn, I am not grateful for a path that Satan has taught, I am not grateful for a tongue that knows neither Arabic nor Persian.Muhammad is God’s messenger'.On one of the turquoises is inscribed with 'ya subhan' (O Exalted!).Handle covered with gilded silver inlay, enriched at the front with filigree volutes, corals, red stones and small cabochon turquoises, the three bigger green stones featuring engraved writings in Arabic language. Engraved with fine floral motifs in bas relief at the back. Wooden scabbard with silver covering, decorated en suite on both the rear and the front part, the bigger stone with inscription. Decorated with two cabochon corals on the upper rear part and with a loop shaped as a stylized fish. Chape shaped as a pine cone. A beautiful and rare dagger from the Black Sea coast, probably Trabzon, very well-known for this type of decoration.See 'Islamic and Oriental Weapons and Armour: A Lifetime's Passion', by Robert Hales, 2013, page 209. Also the beautiful, similarly-decorated weapon on the left side features Arabic inscriptions on the bigger stones. Similar daggers are found on pages 92 and 93, in particular numbers 212, 214 and 217, none of which have inscriptions on the stones.The dagger is provided with an expert's report certifying that it was produced before 1947, and therefore complies with European rules for the trade of protected species. length 43.4 cm.