Baghdad Jambiya
 

Hello All!

I bought this nice Iraqi Jambiya recently. It is good quality, not very touristy. It has a nice good blade and the hilt and sheath are of good quality silver not white metal. The engravings are of decent quality. The knife several English engravings, on the hilt it says " D.A.L. From J.D.D.S" and below that "B.T.F. 1954". On the front of the sheath it says "Baghdad". I think the English engravings were added later or at the time of purchase due to the personel nature of some of the engravings and the crudeness compared to the rest of the engravins. There is also a small arabic engraving above the one engraving I can get pictures of it if desired. There are also several interesting engravings of copper plates such as a man on a camel, the Ctesiphon arch, a mosque, a man in a small round boat on a river, and a Dhow on a river as well as typical floral designs. The copper plate engravings are of good quality in detail. Overall the dagger is very well made with solder seams barely showing and the sturdiness of the knife and sharpness of the blade. It is almost too good to be a tourest knife but seems to have been purchesed by one. It is shown with various Iraqi memerobilia such as dinars and war medals as well as a portrait of Saddam, but that last ones pritty obvious. Comments are welcome!

Mark...

Thanks Aurangzeb for the pictures, I always wanted to know more about Iraqi weaponry. This Jambiya of yours seems like a nice piece, if you would like to, I may be able to translate the arabic engraving.

Hello S. Al-Anizi!

Here is my attempt at transcribing the Arabic inscription on the jambiya (can't seem to get very clear pictures :D ). I hope this is a good enough transcribing for translating. Thanks!

Mark...

hmmmm, the second word is definetly the name "Salem", but I cant read the first one. The engraving must be the name of the owner or the maker.

Hello S. Al-Anizi!

Thank you for the quick translation! I think it is probably the makers name. I like Iraqi weapons too but I can't find musch information on them. I find it interesting that the Kurdish Jambiyas of the north and the Marsh Arab Jambiyas of the south are well documented but the lack of pieces and information on Jambiyas from central Iraq like mine. That's why when I saw this on Ebay I jumped on the chance to own a Jambiya of good quality from central Iraq. I wnoder what the English initials mean, I know the first set are almost certainly initials but the second one "D.A.L" is a bit of a mystery to me? Any ideas... Does the belt loop mean it was worn on a leather belt or a cloth sash? Any ideas on what Mosque that might be?

Mark...

Just bumping up the thread...

No new commens? Odd...

I am suprised this is not generating more interest.