A new Nimcha for comment

efrahjalt · 11th February 2025, 05:12 AM

I recently picked up this beauty. Seems to be in quite good condition. Horn grip. Nice decoration on the hilt bars. I know very little about Nimcha so would love to hear some comments on this one. From what I have gathered it should be 1700s, but not sure how solid the info I found is. Would love some additional insight. Thanks!

efrahjalt · 11th February 2025, 05:14 AM

I forgot to mention it is completely uncleaned in these pictures. I’ll clean it eventually and post some more pictures.

Tatyana Dianova · 11th February 2025, 10:46 AM

This is a very nice sword from Zanzibar, 18-19 century.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21833

TVV · 11th February 2025, 06:48 PM

Tatyana is 100% correct, this is a sword from Zanzibar. Here is another thread you may want to look at for more info on these:

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=28273

efrahjalt · 14th February 2025, 04:12 AM

Thank you for the links. Excellent references. I was not aware that that nimchas were also a style in Zanzibar. I fully expected this would be a sword from North Africa. Very interesting.

Jim McDougall · 14th February 2025, 05:18 PM

The so called 'nimcha' is an intriguing ethnographic sword form which has a wide swath in its variations, as discussed in the thread from several years ago linked by TVV.
Broadly these are Arab sa'if in that general parlance and as has been well pointed out by TVV in those discussions, there are still locally favored elements and features in these which can specify classification to certain areas. Zanzibar was clearly one such region.

The fact that these are Arab swords of course simply indicates these are known in the Arab populated spheres, which includes the North African Maghreb (Morocco and Algeria). The Zanzibar denominator arises from that place being key to trade from Arabia as it was a Sultanate of Oman, and that trade extended to Yemen.
The first indication to me personally that there was a Zanzibar variant was from Artzi Yarom (Oriental Arms) some 30 years ago pertaining to a number of these procured from Yemen in the 80s and which were attributed to Zanzibar, having these distinctive guard rings.

Charles Buttin (1933) shows numbers of these in groupings of these 'nimcha' (a term he does not use, only sa'if) and never specifies Zanzibar as a classification.

11th February 2025, 05:12 AM	#1
efrahjalt Member Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 52	A new Nimcha for comment I recently picked up this beauty. Seems to be in quite good condition. Horn grip. Nice decoration on the hilt bars. I know very little about Nimcha so would love to hear some comments on this one. From what I have gathered it should be 1700s, but not sure how solid the info I found is. Would love some additional insight. Thanks! Attached Images

14th February 2025, 05:18 PM	#6
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,062	The so called 'nimcha' is an intriguing ethnographic sword form which has a wide swath in its variations, as discussed in the thread from several years ago linked by TVV. Broadly these are Arab sa'if in that general parlance and as has been well pointed out by TVV in those discussions, there are still locally favored elements and features in these which can specify classification to certain areas. Zanzibar was clearly one such region. The fact that these are Arab swords of course simply indicates these are known in the Arab populated spheres, which includes the North African Maghreb (Morocco and Algeria). The Zanzibar denominator arises from that place being key to trade from Arabia as it was a Sultanate of Oman, and that trade extended to Yemen. The first indication to me personally that there was a Zanzibar variant was from Artzi Yarom (Oriental Arms) some 30 years ago pertaining to a number of these procured from Yemen in the 80s and which were attributed to Zanzibar, having these distinctive guard rings. Charles Buttin (1933) shows numbers of these in groupings of these 'nimcha' (a term he does not use, only sa'if) and never specifies Zanzibar as a classification. Attached Images

11th February 2025, 05:14 AM	#2
efrahjalt Member Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 52	I forgot to mention it is completely uncleaned in these pictures. I’ll clean it eventually and post some more pictures.

11th February 2025, 10:46 AM	#3
Tatyana Dianova Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 722	This is a very nice sword from Zanzibar, 18-19 century. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21833

11th February 2025, 06:48 PM	#4
TVV Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 1,657	Tatyana is 100% correct, this is a sword from Zanzibar. Here is another thread you may want to look at for more info on these: http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=28273

14th February 2025, 04:12 AM	#5
efrahjalt Member Join Date: Mar 2020 Posts: 52	Thank you for the links. Excellent references. I was not aware that that nimchas were also a style in Zanzibar. I fully expected this would be a sword from North Africa. Very interesting.