This golden sheath decoration was found by archeologists in 1986 in one of mounds located at the edge of the city of Azov. The sheath itself was probably made of wood. The master most likely covered it with leather because there are trails of red paint on the back of the golden plate.

This sheath’s precious adornment is richly decorated. It depicts scenes of struggle between the attacking vulture and a camel that tries to defend itself. This scene repeats, as the bird, wings spread wide, claws the hump of the fallen animal and pecks at its spine. There are four successive equal compositions in the center, which get smaller and smaller. The vining ivy scion with two leaves made of turquoise inserts is depicted below the lowest of these four central compositions. The sculptor also did that same scene of struggle on the three side wings as well as on the bottom end of the sheath.

This sheath decoration also depicts a griffin, which is a mythological winged creature with a body of a lion and the head of an eagle. Its execution style slightly differs from other characters of this precious piece of art. Here, the griffin has a stance of an enraged monster with his big sharp-eared head turned back on a long and durable neck being. This fictitious being is decorated with turquoise.