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#1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 306
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Hello All!
I just bought this off Therion-Arms, although it is described as berber I think it is Iraqi it looks similer to Marsh arab daggers. Comments are welcome! Mark... http://www.therionarms.com/antiques/...arms_c731.html |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: What is still UK
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Hello Mark, it has got that look but could also be from many other places like the horn of Africa, Yemin and so on. Nice shapes, is the handle brass? Looks like a good quality blade. Nice!
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#3 |
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Posts: 306
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Hello Tim!
Yes the handle is brass, and apperars to be good quality. Mark... |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Bay Area
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Aurangzeb, the question about the origin of this type of daggers is one whose answer I would also like to know, and I will surely be visiting this thread often. You are quite right that the shape of the blade is indeed quite similar to the shape of the blades on Marsh Arab daggers, yet Hal from Therion also has a strong point about North Africa due to the brass work and the decoration motives on the hilt. One of the many great things about this forum is that newbies such as us could hope to find answers to questions about the origin of weapons such as this one, and I am sure someone here will know with certainty where this particular dagger came from. All I know is that I have seen at least several other examples from this type, so it must be a type of its own.
Wherever it turns out to be from, congratulations on a nice dagger that has the specific charm of old plain weapons, which may lack in decoration but were meant for serious use. Regards, Teodor |
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#5 |
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Looking again and I think you are right that it is not Berber but I do not think that it is marsh Arab though I can see why you might think so. I have a couple in the attic which I shall get down and post tomorrow. I question Berber and marsh Arab origin because the curved blade is made with an angle rather than a sweeping curve. This is seen most commonly in the horn of Africa a vast region and the Yemen. Personally I would say it was from the countries that make up the horn rather than Yemen. Tim
Last edited by Tim Simmons; 1st October 2005 at 09:22 PM. |
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#6 |
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Hello Tim!
I have never seen any curved daggers from the horn, this will be my first. I thought it was just a very crude Iraqi dagger. Mark... |
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#7 |
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I do not know for sure, it is just a feeling. The decoration just does not strick me as Arab. Tim
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#8 |
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Hello Tim!
You do have a point about the 'X' symbols on the handle but I have seen geometric paterns on arab/mid-eastern weapons before. The end of the handle reminds me of the end on the daggers of south Iraq, only cruder than normal. I have posted a link to a dagger that used to be on Oriental arms that shows some resmblence to the blade shape on the one I just bought. Mark... http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=184 |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 306
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Does this mean that nobody knows for sure where this mystery dagger came from?
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#10 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 175
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Personally I have seen a few of these over the last year or so and I had assumed that they were shibriya variants,I have a shibriya in my collection that has a blade with the same curve instead of a recurve.
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#11 |
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Hello Justin!
Interesting, I never even thought of a shabriya varient but now that you mention it the hilt does look like one. Mark... |
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#12 |
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Sudan???? I found a very similer dagger on a website but I do not know if I can post a link to a item that is for sale.
Mark... Last edited by Aurangzeb; 31st January 2006 at 02:42 AM. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Haifa, Israel
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Gentlemen
Sorry to come in so late, but I am afraid it is indeed a Palestinian dagger coming from the Northern parts of Israel / Palestine or south Syria. It may be mix of several daggers common to the area. Generally the blades in daggers from the region covering Palestine, Israel, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon are divided into two main categories: The Shyibria type with the re-curving blade (few examples shown above) which is common to the southern parts of Israel, to Jordan and to the Sinai peninsula The Khanjar type, with the single curved blade, common to the northern parts of this region: North of Israel, South of Syria and Lebanon. In both categories the handle will be of the standard “I” shaped, but made of whatever possible material found: wood, horn, bone, brass or any other metal, and the pommel in a variety of shapes: round, half round, triangular, slightly square and whatever the local maker had in mind when he produced the dagger. A week ago, I have noticed in a small Israeli forum on Ethnographic weapons ( Unfortunately in Hebrew) a thread on this dagger: ![]() ![]() It was collected in the 1973 war between Israel and Syria in a small village (Jubata el Hasheb, now in the international boundaries of Syria). The blade is in a shameful condition, the scabbard is a later scabbard of a Magdali Khanjar (this village is only 7 miles north of Magdal Shams, were the Magdali daggers were made), but the brass handle has a sticking similarity to the one posted above. Hope this resolves the mystery (Thanks to Mr. I. Meyuchas, who collected this dagger and was kind enough to allow me to post it here) |
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#14 |
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Hello Artzi!
better late than never! ![]() Mark... |
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#15 |
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Almost forgot is this a khanjar of jambiya, or are they the same thing?
Mark... |
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