de ja vu

tonight i was watching the antiques roadshow on a whim. turns out it was an episode filmed at the los angeles convention center. i didn't think much of it other than "oh, i have been there".

about half way through an item comes up for appraisal in which the very first thing shown is the hilt of a sword. "huh," i thought. "i have seen a sword with a hilt just like that."

then they panned back. well, hell. not only have i seen that particular sword i have actually held it in my hand.

the sword is an ottoman shamshir of damascus steel with a rhino horn pistol grip hilt which belongs to a very old man whose uncle found it in a cave while on a mining expedition on the isle of cyprus in the 1930s. the uncle found a cache of ottoman and roman treasure. a number of the items are now in museums in italy and on cyprus.

the old man brought the sword to someone i used to work with to have it restored. yeah, i have held the perfectly balanced sword and admired the craftsmanship of the persian blade folded to look like fine wood grain. the turkish made grip of rhino horn has a solid gold hallmarked langet. according to the expert on the roadshow it was made in the late 17th century.

small world.