Armenian daggers

Traditional Armenian daggers were made in several varieties: normal, Northeast, city, and rural. The blades were made of steel. Tbilisi Armenians excelled at dagger making which the Russian army prized. One of the masters of the dagger-making was Geurk (Gevork) Sarkisovich Elivarov whose daggers were prized by the Russian nobility. Russian poet Mikhael Lermontov, a friend of Pushkin, mentioned the Armenian dagger-maker in his 1837 “The Poet” poem: “In the silver scabbard shines my dagger, The old Geurk’s creation. I took the dagger from the dead as evidence. We’ll take to Geurk. He says he crafted it for a Russian officer.” The dagger is now in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg.

Traditional Armenian daggers were made in several varieties: normal, Northeast, city, and rural. The blades were made of steel. Tbilisi Armenians excelled at dagger making which the Russian army prized. One of the masters of the dagger-making was Geurk (Gevork) Sarkisovich Elivarov whose daggers were prized by the Russian nobility. Russian poet Mikhael Lermontov, a friend of Pushkin, mentioned the Armenian dagger-maker in his 1837 “The Poet” poem: “In the silver scabbard shines my dagger, The old Geurk’s creation. I took the dagger from the dead as evidence. We’ll take to Geurk. He says he crafted it for a Russian officer.” The dagger is now in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg.