«Բուլատի գաղտնիքը» - Էմմա ԱՍՏՎԱԾԱՏՈՒՐՅԱՆ

The article by Emma Astvatsaturyan, leading research fellow at the State Historical Museum (GIM) and curator of the Oriental Weapons collection, is devoted to the history of arms and silver production in Transcaucasia in the 19th century and, in particular, to the activities of the famous Tiflis dynasty of gunsmiths, the Eliazarovs (Eliarovs). The material is part of the series "Armenian Gunsmiths" and was published in No. 4 (7).

Introduction and Methodology
The author notes the scarcity of surviving material sources of domestic production prior to the 19th century and points to the archives of assay institutions and state treasury chambers as the main source of information about the craft — the number of master craftsmen, the range of products, and the organization of guilds.

Guild Organization of Craftsmen (Amkarstvo)
The article examines in detail the system of amkarstva (guilds) in Transcaucasia:

In Tiflis, Gori, Signakh, and Telav, all craftsmen were united in amkarstva, while in Erivan, Alexandropol, and Shusha only Christians were included;
by 1865, Tiflis gunsmiths formed four separate amkarstva (blade makers, stock and lock makers, gold-inlay masters, and scabbard makers);
after the unrest of 1865 and the reform of 1867, the guilds were consolidated and placed under the control of the Craft Board (Remeslennaya uprava).

Range and Volume of Production
Based on the registration books of the Tiflis Assay Office (1842–1866), the article provides statistics on production: tableware and national vessels, silver belts (4,532 over 25 years), fittings for weapons — daggers, shashkas, sabers, rifles — as well as church utensils and household items.

The Eliazarov Dynasty and the "Secret of Bulat Steel"
Central to the article is the story of master Geurk (Gevorg) Eliarov — the founder of the famous gunsmithing dynasty whose works are preserved in the Hermitage, the State Historical Museum, and the museums of Tsarskoye Selo and Makhachkala. It is mentioned that Geurk's name is immortalized in the works of M. Yu. Lermontov.

The key narrative of the article concerns Geurk's son, Kakhraman Eliazarov, who was tasked with revealing to the Russian government the secret of manufacturing bulat steel. On assignment from General E. F. Kankrin and Viceroy I. F. Paskevich, the master:

produced weapon samples "resembling bulat" from various materials;
explained the technology of welding Turkish iron and steel;
trained masters sent from Zlatoust (K. Wolferz and V. Yuzhakov) in metal-processing methods;
was awarded the gold medal "For Usefulness" (Za poleznoye).

Conclusion
The author concludes that the Tiflis school of gunsmiths, represented by the Eliazarov dynasty, played a key role not only in local craft production but also in the development of metallurgical technologies in the Russian Empire, becoming a connecting link between the Eastern arms-making tradition and the industry of the Zlatoust factory.