Dragoon soldier's shashka, Russia, wz. 1881

scabbard length 1038 mm, scabbard length 1007 mm, head length 864 mm, head width at base 33 mm, back thickness at base 7.5 mm, scabbard weight 890 g, scabbard weight in scabbard
1505 g

Hand closed, brass binding. Tailpiece sigmoid scabbard. The rear arm of the hilt inclined towards the head, ending with a ring for tying a sling, the front one, arched, forms a bail connected to the head cap by a catch lock. The shaft of the handle, made of hard wood with diagonal grooves, bottom framed by a profiled ring at the hilt, top by a brass cap and a steel nut securing the handle to the headstock. Trace of cracking of the linings. On the outer side of the hilt, military numerators are inscribed: "49 DRP" (in Cyrillic) and the weapon number "386". Polished steel hilt with moderate curvature, profiled on both sides into a single, wide dorsal furrow, reaching a long, double-edged pen with a bone. On the outer threshold the Zlotoust factory's hallmark: a Russian eagle surrounded by an inscription with the factory's name, the year of the head's production "1888" and a letter written in Cyrillic. On the inner minted: the Cyrillic letter "P" in a square, the letter "W" surmounted by a crown inscribed in an oval and the numeral "5". The back is wooden, covered with black lacquered leather. Brass hardware. Neck with applied ring with cut-out antabka. Three rings with sockets for a four-grain bayonet for a Mosin system rifle and a viscera. Neck and rings with the letter "A" stamped on them. Losses of black varnish.
state of preservation: 4/3+/3