Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Freddy · 16th March 2005, 06:24 PM

Hi Justin,

I found a similar dagger in the book 'African Arms and Armour' by Christopher Spring. There's a picture of this type of 'koummya' on page 25.

This is what he wrote about these daggers :

The 'ear daggers', which became briefly popular in sixteenth century Europe, are so-called because of the two splayed discs which form their pommels, and may possibly be related to the koummya through models which were produced in the Hispano-Moorish civilisation. Unfortunately, such a link is never likely to be established beyond doubt because, surprisingly enough, only a few ornate swords survive from this period which spans some seven hundred years from the ninth to the fifteenth century AD. Further possible evidence of the exchange of designs and ideas may be seen in the hilt of the cinquedea dagger which was as essential a part of the dress of a well-to-do man in Renaissance Italy as the janbiyya is in the Arab world today. Although different in almost every other respect, the pommel of the koummya and the cinquedea are extraordinarily similar. While this does not prove a connection, the ressemblance of both to the hilts of certain weapons from bronze Age Luristan cannot be ignored.

The 'koummya' Spring shows in his book measures about 41 cm (16,4 inches). It has the same shape of hilt and even the same decoration on the sheath as yours.

He writes that it is found in a number of variant forms in the Sous region and the Atlas mountains of Southern Morocco.

All by all a very nice dagger. I like the decoration on the blade near the hilt.

16th March 2005, 06:24 PM	#2
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	nice ! Hi Justin, I found a similar dagger in the book 'African Arms and Armour' by Christopher Spring. There's a picture of this type of 'koummya' on page 25. This is what he wrote about these daggers : The 'ear daggers', which became briefly popular in sixteenth century Europe, are so-called because of the two splayed discs which form their pommels, and may possibly be related to the koummya through models which were produced in the Hispano-Moorish civilisation. Unfortunately, such a link is never likely to be established beyond doubt because, surprisingly enough, only a few ornate swords survive from this period which spans some seven hundred years from the ninth to the fifteenth century AD. Further possible evidence of the exchange of designs and ideas may be seen in the hilt of the cinquedea dagger which was as essential a part of the dress of a well-to-do man in Renaissance Italy as the janbiyya is in the Arab world today. Although different in almost every other respect, the pommel of the koummya and the cinquedea are extraordinarily similar. While this does not prove a connection, the ressemblance of both to the hilts of certain weapons from bronze Age Luristan cannot be ignored. The 'koummya' Spring shows in his book measures about 41 cm (16,4 inches). It has the same shape of hilt and even the same decoration on the sheath as yours. He writes that it is found in a number of variant forms in the Sous region and the Atlas mountains of Southern Morocco. All by all a very nice dagger. I like the decoration on the blade near the hilt.