Name: Original Victorian Afghan Khyber Pass Chura Dagger from the Hazara Expedition of 1888
SKU: 754657

Original Victorian Afghan Khyber Pass Chura Dagger from the Hazara Expedition of 1888

$ 55.62

$ 72.31

Title:

DefaultTitle

Unavailable

Please select combo product attributes

The combo subtotal is $,SAVE$

Original Item: One Only. The chura is a smaller version of the Perso-Afghan pesh-kabz dagger, specifically used by the Mahsud clan of the Pashtun Khyber tribe, who were one of the groups faced by the British Empire during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. A fearsome weapon from India's North West Frontier from the time of that great Movie "THE MAN THE WOULD BE KING" starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

The typical example has a hollow-ground, tempered steel single-edged full-tang blade with a thick spine bearing a "T" cross-section for strength and rigidity. These daggers were designed to penetrate chain mail and other types of armor, so they are of very solid construction. The blade is broad at the hilt, but tapers progressively and radically to a needle-like, triangular tip. Upon striking a coat of mail, this reinforced tip spreads the chain link apart, enabling the rest of the blade to penetrate the armor. One knife authority concluded that the pesh-kabz "as a piece of engineering design could hardly be improved upon for the purpose".

Our example has a 9 inch blade, and is 13 1/2 inches over all, with bone grip scales attached on either side of the full tang. There is some corrosion to the blade, but it is still solid and in very good condition otherwise. It comes complete with wood lined all leather scabbard inscribed HAZARA / POKAL and 1888 together with EX5 NWF and initials JSB. The Hazara Expedition of 1888, also known as the Black Mountain Expedition or the First Hazara Expedition, was a military campaign by the British against the tribes of Kala Dhaka (then known as the Black Mountains of Hazara) in the Hazara region of what is now Pakistan. The campaign ended when the Allaiwal village of Pokal was occupied and destroyed by the British on November 2 and 3, 1888.

This is Most probably a British Trooper's bring back from that expedition, a further result of the Second Anglo-Afghan War of Queen Victoria's reign. Very impressive, a memento of the Victorian Empire with plenty of research potential. Ready to Display.