Quote:
|
Originally Posted by kahnjar1
Perhaps some pics of the swords in the Muttrah Souk.......? If there are as many as you say, then I am sure that Members here would be interested to see.......
|
Salaams Khanjar1. See
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15083 where I started formatting the Muttrah souk content and where you will see almost identical swords from there... because that is where they arrive from Sanaa with the roughly made iron rehilts done in Sanaa...from Ethiopian blades having had their Rhino hilts removed usually to be put on Jambias ; originally European trade blades. Souk traders consign hundreds of blades at a time... sometimes thousands... and push out huge volumes to the mass tourist market mainly at Muttrah. This is done in a variety of configurations with Omani Long Hilts and others being subsequently fitted to extended tangs on any blade they want...in the workshop a short distance away. This has been done since 1970 when the veil was lifted on Oman as it rejoined the modern world. This rehilting became almost accidentally prolific taking on a momentum of its own and flooding thousands of swords out onto the worlds collections..Collectors know them simply by the Sooq name..as;
"Ah thats a Muttrah" such is their dominance as an invented breed over the past almost half a century!!
Sitting opposite the souk entrance there are often cruise ships containing 3 to 4 thousand tourists...and they pummel the souk with groups eager to buy. The projected runway reconfiguration at Seeb the main Muscat Airport is gearing up to take millions more tourists ...and the main souk is Muttrah.
I have a visit to Muttrah soon and will take my camera but you will find many examples on my work on Omani swords where they come into conflict with what are purely made up swords thrown together for the tourist market all over this Forum. Your sword/swords are Sanaa rehilts in the case of the rough worked hilts..though the blades are Ethiopian (European trade blades). These also often appear and tourists buy them in Muttrah. Since no one else buys them I tend to regard them as Tourist swords.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.