Caucasian Kindjal dagger from Daghestan with walrus ivory and gold

High quality Kindjal from Daghestan, Tbilisi. Ornamented with panels of silver, engraved and inlaid with niello, unusually featuring a star motif, which is repeated in a separate lower down on the sheath front. The iron sling mount and hilt mounts damascened with gold scrollwork. The sheath covered with worn velvet, the reverse featuring a rear pocket which would have held a secondary knife or scriber, bordered with gold embroidered thread. The dagger blade decorated with gold panels to the front, the hilt of a single section of walrus ivory. Circa 1850. 

caucasian, middle eastern