The so called 'nimcha' is an intriguing ethnographic sword form which has a wide swath in its variations, as discussed in the thread from several years ago linked by TVV.
Broadly these are Arab sa'if in that general parlance and as has been well pointed out by TVV in those discussions, there are still locally favored elements and features in these which can specify classification to certain areas. Zanzibar was clearly one such region.
The fact that these are Arab swords of course simply indicates these are known in the Arab populated spheres, which includes the North African Maghreb (Morocco and Algeria). The Zanzibar denominator arises from that place being key to trade from Arabia as it was a Sultanate of Oman, and that trade extended to Yemen.
The first indication to me personally that there was a Zanzibar variant was from Artzi Yarom (Oriental Arms) some 30 years ago pertaining to a number of these procured from Yemen in the 80s and which were attributed to Zanzibar, having these distinctive guard rings.
Charles Buttin (1933) shows numbers of these in groupings of these 'nimcha' (a term he does not use, only sa'if) and never specifies Zanzibar as a classification.
|