A nimcha that was not.... :-)

[ariel]

Sometime ago, I saw a saber on e-bay that was advertised as Yemeni Nimcha. Since I am a complete sucker for those little and unsophisticated things, I looked and saw several features that were... welll... bizarre... To make the long story short, I got it. Not for a song, but for much less than a price of a dinner for 4 in a good steakhouse :-)

So, it came.
First thing that struck me was that the blade was of even width throughout, unlike Yemeni things that usually get wider toward the tip. Second, the simple incised decorations were vaguely familiar, but I could not place them other than to notice some european flavor. Also, they showed the Star of David ( well, that's my background; had I been a Muslim, I would have called it Seal of Suleiman:-)). And, even stranger, it had a very realistic picture of a bird. Well, AFAIK, no religious Muslim ( and there were unlikely many atheists or heathens in old Yemen:-)) would have put one on his sword!
And, third, the pommel was of the most unusual shape: not a Badawi one, leaning down, not a Persian one with the 90 degrees angle, and not a "Saudi" one, tilting upward. Instead, it looked like a rounded triangle.

Please see pics now.

[ariel]

Then, I went to the books.

And, in a Hungarian book by Kovacs S. Tibor ( Hungarians are strange peiople: they put their first name last. Anywhere else in the world the author would have been known as Tibor S. Kovacs, G-d bless him:-)) "Huszarfegyverek a 15-17, szazadban" ( Hussar Weapons of 15-17th century), I found a very similar one, with the same pommel, dated to the 17th century, and even a 1560 gravure of Gyorgy Thury, " the Hungarian El Cid" carrying a very similar one!
So, even if I did not get a Yemeni nimcha, I might have landed a significantly more intriguing find.

I am very happy, but want to exercise a healthy degree of caution and ask you for your opinions. Where did I go wrong ( hopefully, you will not find a flaw:-))?

[TribalBlades]

those drawings on the blade look like mere scribbles, possibly by the owner. they dont look professionally incised.

[spiral]

Interesting sword, No idea on the hilt...

Sometimes Syrians put slighty better renderd Doves on the blades, sharks to on occasion.

Doves & sharks is that the light & dark sides of weapons?

Spiral

[A.alnakkas]

I was watching this one.

The hilt looks identical to the ones coming out of Iraq. I have several come my way with wootz blades. The pattern seems that Iraqi's would have diff styles but rarely (if ever) cover the pommel.

Lotfy

[ariel]

Attached is a pic of the so-called Transylvanian Knot, a magical/talismanic mark on Hungarian blades XVI-XVIII centuries. There were several variants, see lower right and left.

Would love to see Syrian/Iraqi examples.