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Originally Posted by ariel
There is an unspoken assumption that blades of the "oriental" swords and daggers were made in the "Orient".
Yes, we see quite a lot of Indian tulwars made in England and Moroccan nimcha blades made in Europe.
But for me Koummya had such a peculiar and idiosyncratic blade that I thought it was 100% local.
Well, not true. This example, as well as the one on e-bay now with the blade stamped "M.L. D. London" shows that European cutlers were very busy supplying the " natives" with their national fashions. I am wondering what % of old Koummyas were actually 100% Moroccan...
In a while we may start doubting the origin of Flyssas:-))))
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On that note:
Commerce was always anxious for opportunity to exploit the exotica of the colonial places the super powers occupied, so the production of native weaponry in their own styles was not surprising.
In actuality, after the campaigns in the Sudan, Birmingham was producing numbers of 'souveniers' such as 'native 'spear heads etc. for the souks there to supply the quest for these by occupying forces. Actually they had been producing such material as mail armor for the Khedives forces much prior to Omdurman.
For America, the legendary Bowie knife ended up with considerable volume of them in America being produced in Sheffield, England.
There are almost too many instances of these kinds of commercial production of 'indiginous' or nationally attributed forms made in other countries to even touch on here. The point is however, well noted, and another often perplexing factor in the conundrums of identifying these arms.