M 1834 Cavalry Enlisted Man's Shashka of the Asian Type (so- called Nizhegorodka), dated 1916.

34" blade dated 1916. Overall length in scabbard is 40 1/2". Slightly curved blade, double edged near the tip. Wooden scabbard wrapped in black leather with a hardwood grip has brass fittings including the special mounts to hold a Mosin- Nagant bayonet, now missing and not included. Bayonets of this era are frequently available and it should not be difficult to find one to complete this.

Very good to excellent condition. Shows uniform wear but none of the outright abuse that so many old weapons display from having seen service in the field. When first issued, the grip was stained a uniform dark color, much of which has worn away due to use; the old insect damage visible on one side has not impacted the grip's strength and there is nothing fragile about it. Unlike many leather wrapped scabbards on older swords, this example is not only complete, but it is completely intact. Furthermore, the leather shows none of the dry rot or separation from the underlying wood common to other swords from the same era. True, it shows many scrapes and nicks from having been carried in combat, but for many collectors, a battle-worn weapon has a personality and an appeal that a pristine parade ground piece will never have...

All of the metal components are still firmly attached and in their correct positions; only the leather buffer pad has been lost to time - and that can easily be replaced if so desired. The blade was professionally polished at some point in time; from inspecting it, it is obvious that it was probably already in exceptional condition due to the fact that the scabbard did its duty.

This shashka model was introduced in 1836 in the Nizhegorodskiy Regiment, hence its common name Nizhegorodka. In 1858, it was also adopted by the Severskiy Regiment. Interestingly, in 1881 these two units were re-issued regular cavalry shashkas in exchange for their nizhegorodkas. The popularity of the latter however led to repeated appeals by the Commander of the Caucasian Cavalry Division Duke Amilakhvari to return to the beloved nizhegorodka, and the permission to do that was finally granted by the higher military authorities in 1889.

During the early 1900s the nizhegorodkas were also adopted by few other units namely the Plastun infantry detachments of the Kuban Cossack Troops (only for senior NCOs and it was a modification without the provision for the bayonet), the Tverskoy Dragoon Regiment, the Pereyaslavskiy Dragoon Regiment and the Novorossiyskiy Dragoon Regiment.

Couple the fact that only a few select units ever carried this side arm with the fact that it saw service for only a relatively brief period of time and you can understand its scarcity today.

/See Alexander Kulinskiy, "Russian Edged Weapons", 2001, vol. 1, p. 144, fig. 53/

/See Alexander Kulinskiy, "Russian Edged Weapons", 2005, pp. 215-218 /

The portrait of a Great War Russian soldier with an officer's model Nizhegorodka is from A. Kulinsky's 2005 book on edged weapons.


$3,450.00