Cheetah

A large, luxuriously decorated dagger with galvanic gold plating in a metal sheath. It belongs to the category of exclusive custom products, which among Russian manufacturers signifies top-tier items from limited series. The Cheetah dagger comes from the Zlatoust Arms Factory. It is a large knife, close in size to the sword of a Roman legionary (a 30 cm blade compared to 45 cm for a gladius). The blade is made of stainless steel covered with heavily gold-plated decorations. I write "heavily" because, according to the official Russian document called the "product passport," the thickness of the gold layer is 6 microns. In the art of jewelry, a 6-micron coating is considered "heavy gold plating," featuring a very high resistance to wear. As a side note, in Russia, trading such items requires a special jewelry trade license. The handle is made of stabilized wood, finished on one end with a beautiful pommel and on the other with a prominent crossguard. The Cheetah features a metal sheath decorated using precise hand-engraving, etching, niello/blackening, and gold-plating techniques. The image of a stalking, spotted predatory cat stands out in particular. The decorative patterns on these custom products are truly unique, if only because the items themselves are produced in short production runs. It is sold in an elegant wooden presentation box.

Overall length: 462 mm

Blade length: 304 mm

Blade width (max.): 32 mm

Blade thickness (max.): 6 mm

Steel (according to Russian nomenclature): EI-107 (ЭИ-107)

Manufacturer: Zlatoust Arms Factory, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russian Federation