Yemen Dagger
 

I have this yemen dagger, and am looking for some info, on the authenticity, of Rhino handle. Comes with All silver sheath. Any help appreciated. Pic below. If the pic doesn't show could someone please tell me how to post them...it says pic is attached but when I preveiwed I didn't see it.

Hello J. Welcome. It would be nice to see some close ups...and maybe a different background & a little bright lighting..natural is best....but nice looking piece from the photo:) Not my area...but some of the other guys will surely chime in soon :D

Hi J Wicker

That is a standard Yemen jambiya with a nicer scabbard you have. I am pretty sure the hilt is not rhino but a close up of the hilt would help to make a positive ID.

Hi J. Wicker
very nice yemeni "Dharia" dagger :p
- type; "Badihi"
- hilt style; "Sayfani"
- area; Sanaa - Yemen
- age; "contempory"
(sources ; "Weapons of the Islamic World" (Swords & Armour)
about the "rhino" handle ... :confused: picture not enough acute to give an opinion

à +

Dom

Dom

Weapons of the Islamic World" (Swords & Armour) is this still in print?

I think so

à +

Dom

Hi guys,
I'd like to give my opinion on this jambiya and a slight correction to the descriptions offered above. It is definitely from Yemen.
I understand the reference to the " dharia" dagger in " Weapons of the Islamic World". However I think what J has is a "thouma". The "dharia" is actually called locally a "joulba" which has less curvature, is slightly larger with a more bulbous end than the Thouma. The Thouma and joulba were worn by a different class of person in the old social structure.

Without a better picture it is difficult to know if the hilt is rhino horn or not. The term " saifani" relates back to a Yemeni family who made jambiya daggers using a particular quality and colour of rhino horn. I would just call the dagger " Sana'a style" as the term " saifani" definitely relates to rhino horn.

The silver work looks Badihi ( jewish family) in style, although i'm not sure about the locket as the picture is poor. Hope this helps.
Steve

Steve/Dom

Would these be considered Joulba or Badihi? Btw the top one is rhino.

Steve and Dom, I cant add anything to this, but wanted to thank you for these outstanding assessments on this dagger, especially for the attention to detail. I think the general arms collecting world has long been lulled into the casual identification of these Arabian daggers collectively as janbiyya, and this kind of attention has extended to them the respect and understanding they deserve. I must admit I had not truly understood the complexity and importance held toward these daggers, despite being aware they were very key to tradition in Arabia.

It seems there were some discussions and I believe a reference which detailed the coloring of the rhino horn and the associations to certain family and tribal heirarchy but cannot recall further as it was a while back. Could either of you note more on this ?

All very best regards,
Jim

I'm certainly not an expert, but we've had discussions over the years on how to test whether the hilt is rhino horn. Use the advanced search to check some of the older archives.

It's also worth reading the Guide to CITES if you do have a rhino horn hilt that's modern. There can be legal issues with transport of such an item.

Best,

F

Here is a link.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=RHINO+HORN

Btw you should read this article seems The Chinese are flooding the Yemen markets with cheap plastic hilted jambiya :eek: Is nothing sacred anymore :( .

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/m...ers-made-china

Jim, Though the word is spelled janbiyya it is pronounced in Yemen with an m so the transliteration jambiya is correct. Why that is I don't know becuase the root of the word is J*N*B which means "side", "sideways" or "beside" in Arabic.

Hi Michael,
Thanks very much for explaining that, its always interesting to know more on the roots of these terms, and to understand the correct application.

All the best,
Jim

Hi again,
Just to answer Louie's query. The joulba is a jambiya style found mainly in the north and western parts of Yemen defined primarily by the shape of the scabbard.

Louie, probably you already know this, but your two horn hilted daggers are from the Hadhramaut area. The rhino one is a great style and are lovelly pieces - I have one also. The little silver dagger is harder to place but my guess would be also from southern Yemen, probably Mukalla or Habbin areas which had a population of quality silversmiths.

Steve

Steve

Thanks for the quick reply. I thought these might be from Hadhramaut but my Yemen friend Salah who was my go to person passed away and his son is not as knowlegable when it comes to jambiya. I am actually teaching him :). I was very interested to know if the silverwork could have been done by Jewish smiths I have heard from my friend mentioned above that they did the finest work in Yemen and after 1950 there was a marked decline in the workmanship of the silverwork due to the exodus of the Yemeni Jews to Israel.

Btw I found this part of an article on the web.

After most of the Jews left Yemen in 1948-1950, the ruler of Yemen, Imam Ahmed, saw that jewelrymaking was in decline and tried to save the industry by ordering some of the Jewish silversmiths to teach their craft to Muslims before they left the country (Muchawsky-Schnapper 2000). But all the secret knowledge that been passed through the generations of the old silversmiths could not be taught in a few years.

Louie,
Yes, you're right, the jewish silversmiths were there one day and gone the next.

For your interest I've attached a photo of the patriarch of one of the last great Moslem jambiya making families in Sana'a. He's holding his own belt and jambiya.
Steve

Sorry for not getting back to some of this sooner, but ...
anyhows, here are 2 more pics of dagger, to decifer.

Could use a closer clearer pic of the hilt it is still hard to say?