Brass dots on a blade??

[Steve]

Hi Guys,
I've just received an old jambiya from the Hadhramaut in Yemen and it has three brass spots on each side of the central ridge forged into the blade. This is the only one I've ever seen from Yemen like this.
I've seen this before in blades from China/Tibet/Nepal. Maybe other countries?
I've never understood why they're there and what this means for my jambiya blade?? what do you think?
All contributions welcomed.

Thanks, Steve

[Jim McDougall]

Nice example of a good working janbiyya Steve, still an important element of a tribesmans accoutrements.
I think these dots in this configuration have turned up before on janbiyya but cannot recall specifics.
The placing of brass or gold metal dots has evolved from relatively ancient practice of doing so with either bronze or gold inlay or latten, a gold alloy from early Frankish blades. In these cases the finished blade had either symbols inlaid, or even sometimes simply a gold nail. The practice has become well known in North Africa, Arabia, India, even in a number of other settings, perhaps an influence diffused through trade.

In India, it is believed that the practice, often with single strategically placed dots might have apotropaic properties toward the iron in the blade. In many other cases where there are multiple dots, often in threes, these represent the trimurti, or trinity of three, often key in many Faiths. Perhaps these paired triple dots are placed as dual representation of that configuration.
I would suppose that as good a place to start as any.

Whether the numeric configurations have certain tribal significance would be hard to say, and hopefully our guys well versed in Arabian weapons and daggers might have details...Lew, Michael?

All the best,
Jim

[Battara]

Is the hilt made of rhino horn?

[Steve]

Hi, yes the hilt is made from rhino horn. Quite old and I've had to fill some worm holes to keep it all together. The chinese imitation of rhino horn is now very, very good. It even has the texture right.

Thanks Jim, as always, for your thoughts on the brass spots. A little more research has filled in that the chinese jian swords often have these dots, seven of them as representing the "big dipper" in the great Bear constellation. This is evidently important in martial arts, possibly relating to an ancient historic warrior who carried a sword with that pattern. So its mystic and decorative.
Evidently, they are also found on the Barong. Probably made by chinese smiths who work in the Philippines.

As this is extremely rare in the southern arabian peninsula, I am wondering if the blade was imported from, say, India?
I am interested if there are other opinions??
steve

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Steve,
Thank you for acknowledging my post, and very good points you make on the brass dots in Chinese weapons. I really dont believe the blade is from India, the jambiyya blades I believe were typically made locally even as trade blades prevailed for swords. Daggers are a much more personal weapon, and this is in my opinion why they dont carry a lot of the variety of markings seen on sword blades. Obviously there tend to be more in the way of inscriptions and the like, but usually they do not have makers cartouche etc.

All the best,
Jim

[Steve]

Jim and others,
There's not much more to add except that a local contact in Yemen tells me "the dotted blade is very rare and the dots are supposed to signify the kills the blade has had. Evidently the dots are in what is known as the "poison" area of the blade". This is as told to him.

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Steve

As this is extremely rare in the southern arabian peninsula, I am wondering if the blade was imported from, say, India?
I am interested if there are other opinions??
steve

Hi Steve,

Purely speculation but I'd support India as this piece came from a very old collection of Indian only weapons.

Gav

[Jim McDougall]

That makes perfect sense actually Gav, as the janbiyya was by no means restricted to Arabia alone, and found use, sometimes in varying hilts and blade types throughout the Islamic World. The Arab trade on the entire west coast of India would of course be likely, and the three dot configurations are well known on tulwars and many Indian weapons as representative of the Trimurti.

All the best,
Jim

[Michael Blalock]

That's a really nice Jambiya Steve. I tend to think the gold or brass dots are a talismanic symbol or makers mark, the origins of which are long ago lost in the mists of time. There is definately something mystical about the concept of piercing a steel blade that would make this an appealing decoration to this day.

[Steve]

Thanks Guys, I agree that the dots are probably a talisman or makers mark, however I always love those notch on the bedpost stories. If anyone comes up with photos of similar decorations on arab blades I'd be interested to have a look.
Steve