The Sarmatian dagger and the scabbard fitting, found in a not specifically located kurgan in the south of the Kherson oblast (Ukraine), which are now stored in a private collection in Paris (France). Dating: 1st and the 3rd century A. D. Gold and bronze.
Probably, the article was manufactured in one of the towns located along the northern coast of the Black Sea in the period between the 1st and the 3rd century. It came into existence either in the Sarmatian culture, or in the Bosporan Kingdom, which were under a strong political and cultural influence of the Scythians and then the Sarmatians.
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The Sarmatian dagger and the scabbard fitting.
The dimensions of the dagger:
- total length: 258 mm
- blade length: 137 mm
- hilt length: 121 mm
- pommel diameter: 32 mm
- grip length: 80 mm
- crossbar length: 9 mm
- width of the blade at the crossbar: 35 mm
- width of the hilt grip: 22 mm
- crossbar width: 44 mm
The dagger has a straight, double-edged bronze blade of a symmetrical profile and a square cross section without a base. The ridge is visible on both sides, as well as corrosion and mechanical damage.
The hilt is made of solid yellow gold and most probably mounted on a tang with a huge, circular pommel and a narrow rounded crossbar. The grip of the hilt is narrower than the dagger blade at the base.
Ornaments: incrustations of colored glass, a plain wire and strips forming cloison (cloisonné pattern) in a shape of a tear - single fillings of blue cobalt, as well as white and opal glass are preserved - damaged mechanically and creating on the grip a thick spike; on the pommel in a shape of a flower with a circular center. The incrusted
pattern is surrounded by fragments of a geometrated twig - ogees made of soldered stripes of golden sheet metal.The dimensions of the scabbard fitting:
- scabbard fitting length - 143 mm
- scabbard fitting width - 23 mm
- the length of the element between the bulges - 70 mm
- scabbard fitting width in the bulges at the mouth-locket
- and the chape - 56 mm
- height of semicircular bulges at the mouth-locket - 23 mm
- height of semicircular bulges at the chape - 26 mm
- width of the semicircular chape - 26 mm
- length of the chape under the bulges - 24 mm
The gold fitting of a leather scabbard has a characteristic shape - a rounded extension/bulge in the upper part at the mouth-locket (in the shape of the letter T) with double holes for nails, as well as an ending in the shape of a club at the bottom of the chape. There are double holes for nails in the side bulges.
Ornaments consist of an embossed plant twig with bell-shaped flowers, geometrated parts of the twig - ogees made of soldered stripes of golden sheet metal. Between the two there are sporadically arranged incrustations made of coloured glass set in a plain wire and strips forming a cloison (cloisonné pattern) filled with circular areas and a tear (blue cobalt and white opal glass), as well as a filigree wire at the edges. On the scabbard fitting surface there are characteristic traces of primitive rolls used for the production of sheet metal (as seen in macro pictures). Both objects are genuine and come from the period of time between the 1st and the 3rd century A. D.
A full expert opinion will be sent upon official request.