Caucasian Shashka

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Silver-plated Adyghe/Cossack shaska available in the Secret Of The Silver Blades collection. Since there are plenty of historical high-status examples that were actually silver plated, or in some cases even had the hilt completely covered in silver, it seemed, you know, like a natural candidate.

We often forget that there's about 90% of the world that is neither Japan nor Western Europe. And they came up with swords (and maces and polearms and so on) at least as good as either of those. And in the 12'th-13'th century the Adyghe in the Caucasus did just that: came up with a lightweight and quick sword that then the Cossacks adopted as better than their own swords, and in 1881 it was good enough to become the official Russian army sabre, replacing the existing cavalry sabres. (Except for the hussars.)

The blade looks a bit like a katana blade, but it is a completely unrelated development in an area that hadn't even heard of Japan yet. It is also significantly longer and lighter, and used in a fundamentally different fighting style.