Salaams All ~ Note to Forum. I thought now would be a good time to revisit this thread with a view to looking at where the souk finds its stock of swords and other weapons. It has been common practice for souk shop owners to run parallel with their own workshops doing small repairs and sometimes with sizeable refitting and restoration sidelines. I have outlined this practice in other threads but here it is time to observe more closely the international souk linkages that have existed for decades since 1970. Before that there was hardly any tourism because of the state of the country which had been in decline since the Suez Canal opened and before the influence of oil.
Once the dynamic leadership of the current ruler had begun to take effect the immediate transformation of the country ensued with perhaps the first big changes happening in medical facilities, clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges, communications and commerce which included a huge boost to the general souk in the capital Muscat. Muttrah Souk has dominated trade in Muscat for centuries and the lift afforded by Oman joining the 20th Century in 1970 cannot be over emphasised. Previously it had been in the dark ages by comparison. Before 1970 Oman didnt have any colleges (a couple of schools only) and no roads to speak of. The child death at birth ratio was about the worst on the planet.
What has happenend since 1970 has been the gradual errosion of artifacts through intense tourism traffic and since Muttrah Souk has been the central hub for such items the effect on the entire countries stock of antiquities has been dramatic. In addition, errosion of the local marketeers has meant that not only have the real antiquities disappeared but the local shopkeepers have also largely vanished. Replacing those... perhaps up to 80 or 90 % have gone.. are shop keepers from other countries which have always thrived in Muscat such as Persian, Indian, Pakistani and others ... I saw a new shop open recently from Syria. Whilst this may seem normal the net effect has been a slow drying up of original material. This never happened in, for example, Sharjah Souk which is relatively new and never went through the same transition as Muttrah. Sharjah is full of spurious material and always has been...In some ways however that showed the way in which Muttrah was sliding. So where does their stuff originate?
Much of the material comes out of troubled quarters as in the case of Syria whose souks have been all but obliterated by war and Yemen suffering a slow choking internal realignment but equally disruptive to Sanaa market activity with almost no tourism these days. The first individuals to get up and move or to carve out a business in such times are the market people... thus Muttrah is now "in a sense" a Sanaa outlet. I was there this week and the impact compared to a few months ago is clear. With diminishing stocks of original Omani gear the market holders are simply turning to the nearest source of Arabian goods..and since Sanaa has suffered huge losses because of internal strife it must look to other markets and with Oman on the doorstep they have flooded the diminishing market. After all the style of artifacts in Yemen is not so far removed from that of Oman or at least the average tourist cannot tell the difference .. but does it matter? It is a souk after all !
At the same time the Sanaa boys have seized an opportunity and are sucking hard to gather in from their own dwindling resources stuff enough to fill the burgeoning Omani demand. They, by the way impact the two main areas Muttrah (in Muscat) and Salalah but as yet not so much the interior souks of Nizwa, Senau, Buraimi, Sohar etc. (but its coming slowly) What this means is their own supply line particularly for sword and sword blades is Saudia and Ethiopia...both are being squeezed very hard now. Muttrah is awash with Ethiopian work via Yemen; a lot of it originating in the German blade trade in the 18th /19th C. Commonly seen are the multi grooved German/ Ethiopian blades on back street Sanaa workshop hilts and others.(many of the original hilts were rhino but these appear to have been removed and put onto Yemeni Jambia for the Sanaa Yemeni market) etc.
Some blades which look almost dead ringers for Omani blades but often stiff, inflexible items are cross hilted and matched onto Omani long hilts and scabbards which to the unsuspecting tourist eye look very Omani indeed. Shop holders don't exactly tell lies about these swords because they have no idea of their origins except that they are now in Oman so they must be Omani Swords no? and of course there is always the problem that they will always agree with a statement from a tourist like...Are these really Omani Swords?...Reply Oh Yes Omani yes yes...Hundreds of years old..thousands even....no? It should be remembered that backed up behind this tourist are 3,999 on the same cruise ship all pumping through the souk...in groups of 20 and 30... if this one doesn't buy it the next one may do.
Anyway, heres a blade I picked up which has not been played with but follows the other variation of blades passing through to buyers in the souk which aren't changed to Omani Style because they wouldn't look right.. like this European job with a six pointed star interspersed with 6 fleur de lys and containing a six sided geometry and 6 dots etc at the throat leading to a distinctive crown as the first decoration to the blade and Ethiopian script down the blade on one side and floral foliate design on the other. The blade which looks like its gone too far in the bend. Bent "straight blades" are quite common in Ethiopia I understand.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.