Old Turkish Hunting Knife

[tamrock]

I thought this was kinda cool $5.40 find. I was in with all the other kitchen utensils. I wonder what any of your options would be on the age of it? I'm thinking 1960s or 70s. Its marked Bursa which is a city in turkey along with Paslanmaz Gananti which all 3 of those words couple to the word knife all direct you to Turkish cutlery and there's some other word in a circle like maybe Sanat ending in (UP maybe)?

 

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[Red-Coat]

Hi tamrock

As you say, Bursa is a city in NW Turkey, and it has been a centre for knife-making since the arrival of Balkan migrant craftsmen at the end of the Russo-Turkish war in 1878. The rest of the mark reads “Paslanmaz Garanti”, which in Turkish means “Stainless [Steel] Guarantee[d]”. So, it’s just an indication of quality for knives from that area… like saying “Sheffield Stainless” or “Toledo Steel” and intended to set it apart from Pakistani imports and such.

The (unreadable) mark on the other side will be the actual maker. There’s only an illegible fiirst letter for the top word (possibly an ‘R’) and the bottom incomplete word may be a derivation of “Sanat” which means “art/craft/handiwork” in Turkish. That curious symbol at the left will likely be the company’s trademark and you might find it with some Googling or searches on one of the many knife forums.

I think your dating guesstimate will probably be about right… just old enough to be vintage.

 

[tamrock]

Thanks Red Coat. I really like it.

 

[tamrock]

Also RC, your info got me to reading up online about the blade smithing that goes on in the city of Bursa. Seems it's a place known for makers of knives by the blade smith's working out of small shops. A few interesting videos on the practice of knife makers of Bursa, still today employed in a cottage industry.