My new schaschka.

[RedHorseman25]

the overstamp of the Cyrillic "I" concerns me. Not to say it could not have happened in a Soviet factory, but...

The fact that there are no additional cartouches on the other side of the blade also concerns me, but, in the end, if you are happy with it, that is all that matters!

Boridin

[Wesley's Dad]

I know nothing about the various blade markings... However, assuming the weapon is original the Soviet markings might have been removed by a German soldier who claimed this as a souvenir. Another possibility would be the use by a Cossack unit who changed their allegiance during the war but retained the weapon. Or just as likely by someone post war who had reason not to like it. To be frank, the fact that the Soviet markings have been obliterated would ruin it for me given that there is no way to know when or why it was done.

[hbhansen]

Thanks for your answers. I returned by the way. Waiting for something better to come up.

[Evgeni M]

Bought the same type of shashka a while ago, turned out to be a fake one. This one seems to be aged. You can recognize it more easily on the steel quality. The Chinese repros have low quality steel that is very difficult to sharpen.

[Frogprince]

The sword looks like it was an original period example. I've seen Czarist era swords with the "N / II" cypher ground off during the Soviet era, but not an erasure of the Soviet era symbols. Until now of course. There are some ex-Chinese swords made on Soviet machinery (for the Chinese Army) that showed up in the U.S. some years back when they were clearing out their armories. Other than a lack of markings they were identical to the late Soviet era swords - and NOT to be confused with the recent imports. I passed on those, but did get a nice wartime Soviet trench periscope with good optics and a hard case.

BTW: The Chinese rifles and pistols made circa early 1960's on ex-Soviet machinery were really well made with some even having a Soviet made part here and there. FP