Used Sawfish Nose Sold in Vladivostok as Trophy or Sword

A used sawfish nose is being sold in Vladivostok on the classifieds website Farpost. The seller offers this unusual item for 13,000 rubles (approximately $130 at current rates) and notes that it can be used to make a sword.

Indeed, it is possible; such a nose is usually kept only as a souvenir, but, for example, indigenous peoples of Oceania and craftsmen from the Indo-Iranian region traditionally made swords. They used them as ceremonial weapons or sheaths for daggers. Nowadays, there are also similar craftsmen and simply craft enthusiasts.

In the description, the seller indicated that it is a collector«s item; when asked how he acquired it, he replied: »It was a gift.« He also suggests hanging the fish nose on the wall as a historical trophy.

It is unknown from which specific sawfish the nose comes. In fact, fish with saws on their noses belong to two different families without close evolutionary kinship: sawsharks and sawfish, which have different diets, habitats, and behaviors. Only the saw-like snout is similar.