My Jambiya is it Rhino?
 

These are 3 pictures of my Jambiya that was given to me in the late 1980s, from my uncle who is a pilot from Yemen. Is the handle rhino horn? what is a good way to tell? Anyone know what the arabic on the coin type thing says? Also, I have not seen any pictures of any other Jambiya with bright red plastic beads mine has. I am assuming it is just a cheap souvenir one my uncle bought for his Amercian nephew. However, my uncle's father is a wealthy powerful man in Yemen, and at the time it was given to me my uncle had 3 daughters and no sons, so that is supposedly why he gave it to me. So I have some doubts...so the experts out there tell me your opinion....Is it a good one or not? :confused:

Hello Pibb,

Welcome! Your Jambiya does not seem to be rhino, but its a nice example non the less :-)

What makes you say this? How can you tell? :confused:

Salaams pibb69~ With Rhino you tend to get a translucent edge especially on the outer edges of the pommel area... which increases in transparency the older it becomes. There is a burn test which if you take a pinhead size of the material leaves a smell of burned hair.. Yours looks like standard bull horn or wood.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.