Nimcha with markings

ariel · 29th March 2008, 01:18 AM

Just ended.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting
No argument here: pretty .
The seller states that the blade is local.
-What do we know about blade manufacture in Maghreb?
-What is on the stamp? A date? I seem to see numerals but can't make sense out of them.
-The blade sports Indian Ricasso. Was it usual on Maghrebi blades? I have several, but don't recall seeing this feature.

One side of the blade is stamped Zaoue. I found one ( two, as a matter of fact) in the discussion here:
http://www.mlagb.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y...=1116966424/10
But both were from Marseille, France.
France, Morocco.... Ze plot sickens!

kronckew · 29th March 2008, 07:48 AM

the oval 'with arabic inscription' looks more like a stylized wolf stamp with a couple of decorative flanker symbols at the bottom, at the top 'Zivia' which can mean 'wolf' in hebrew.

ariel · 29th March 2008, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kronckew

the oval 'with arabic inscription' looks more like a stylized wolf stamp with a couple of decorative flanker symbols at the bottom, at the top 'Zivia' which can mean 'wolf' in hebrew.

Nope. Wolf in Hebrew is Ze'ev. And it ain't no Hebrew letters.

kronckew · 29th March 2008, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ariel

Nope. Wolf in Hebrew is Ze'ev. And it ain't no Hebrew letters.

i came across a site that translated 'zivia' as 'wolf' or more properly the female version ie. she-wolf, can't find it now, others translate it as 'gazelle or deer' of god (sivyah, tzivia,tzivia - variants). anyway was clutching at straws, lettering didn't look overly arabic to me & the central blob looked animalistic.

maybe the mfg/stamper was not hebrew but liked the name. maybe it was transliterated during the attempts at romanizing yiddish in the 16th/17th centuries.

ah, found one:
Meaning of name: zivia

another which says deer or wolf:Linky

interesting that zeva is geek for sword per that link....

looks like it could mean either

or just about anything else too as it's a bit crudely stamped/cut. we need an arabic scholar's view at this.

ward · 30th March 2008, 03:33 AM

I have no idea what you all are talking about I see numbers = 181 (could be 1181= 18th century to lazy to do the math right now)and a few arabic characters A Haa and Raa. Worn caligraphy is hard to read but I do not see any hebrew or wolf head. Where do you see zivia? Arabic does not have a v symbol untill very recently

ariel · 30th March 2008, 03:53 AM

Fully agree.

29th March 2008, 01:18 AM	#1
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Nimcha with markings Just ended. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting No argument here: pretty . The seller states that the blade is local. -What do we know about blade manufacture in Maghreb? -What is on the stamp? A date? I seem to see numerals but can't make sense out of them. -The blade sports Indian Ricasso. Was it usual on Maghrebi blades? I have several, but don't recall seeing this feature. One side of the blade is stamped Zaoue. I found one ( two, as a matter of fact) in the discussion here: http://www.mlagb.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y...=1116966424/10 But both were from Marseille, France. France, Morocco.... Ze plot sickens!

29th March 2008, 07:48 AM	#2
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,178	the oval 'with arabic inscription' looks more like a stylized wolf stamp with a couple of decorative flanker symbols at the bottom, at the top 'Zivia' which can mean 'wolf' in hebrew.

30th March 2008, 03:33 AM	#5
ward Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 637	I have no idea what you all are talking about I see numbers = 181 (could be 1181= 18th century to lazy to do the math right now)and a few arabic characters A Haa and Raa. Worn caligraphy is hard to read but I do not see any hebrew or wolf head. Where do you see zivia? Arabic does not have a v symbol untill very recently

30th March 2008, 03:53 AM	#6
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Fully agree.