[QUOTE=Jim McDougall]
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your kind comments. It is a pleasure to share ones collection with others as I firmly believe that the sharing of stuff with others is healthy to our hobby. I will do my best to answer your questions, with the little knowledge I have gleened from books.
The top 2 items in the pic are Omani. The item on the left came out of Oman, courtesy of a then mercenary, at the end of the Yemeni uprising in the late 1960s, with two rifles (one since onsold),and the Talahiq powder flask(the banana shaped one). This Khanjar also has the back knife (shafra). The Omani item on the right (slightly later) has the Sultans crest on the belt studs and is finished in silver and gold wire. The Omani name for these is "Khanjar" pronounced KUN-JUR, Sorry can't help with the THUM other than to say that I have not seen it used to describe Omani Khanjars, but rather to describe the very pronounced bulb on Meccan Janbiyyas.
The middle two are MECCAN Janbiyyas, so named for the area from which the style originated.
From left to right along the bottom:
Janbiyya from Hijaz or Asir late 19th or early 20th Cent.
" " " " Early 20th Cent
Janbiyya from Asir late 19th or ealy 20th Cent.
Janbiyya from Hijaz or Asir 19th Cent.
These Janbiyya, were/are also called either Sabak (Hijaz) or Sabiki (Asir), dependant on where they came from. It must be remembered that Arabia was virtually unknown, except for the coastal regions, until the advent of WW1, when the interior was further investigated thru necessity, by the then Colonial powers, so the regional blade/scabbard designs tended to stay fairly localised.
Elgoods book (still available thru Abebooks.com) has been a great help in sorting things out but I'm sure that there are other publications dealing with this subject.
Hope the above is of some help, and I can post single pics if anyone is interested in a closer view of any of the items.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Stuart
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