interesting jambiya on eBay

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by spiral

Namaste Ibrahim!

PerhapsI recomend the book "The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China" by Jan Chapman to you Ibrahiim.

Although not perfect it has many excelent photos demonstrating genuine Rhino horn grain, growth styles etc. Also a small section on fake horns.

I am sure you would find it interesting & helpfull, Given your earlier opinions re the both horn in this & the "Recent Jambiya and a new Khanjar " thread by Archer.

Regards
Spiral

Salaams Spiral ~ Interesting reference indeed. I am all for that. Naturally we try to switch to composite or non rare horn but the demand is still high for the rare stuff sadly... and since almost single handedly Yemeni daggers, though, I'm afraid Omani too... have caused a great demise in the Rhino population which faces extinction. After all, composite hilts accept all the pins in exactly the same way as Rhino...or Elephant. Local people, however, think I'm mad to even consider it. It would be interesting to see Mamoth tusk used on Khanjars but it has never been done to my knowledge... There was a half rumour drifting about that Giraffe hoof was also used but I need to see that to analyse etc... It doesn't help that the local Arabic term for Rhino is Z'raff !
Actually Rhino hilt in Oman is usually very simple to spot since the edges are nearly always translucent which is easy to see with a powerful pen torch. I'm rambling on a bit here but I haven't dropped the baton quite...

I'm just trying to manouvre it around to try to persuade you to run a disertation on Rhino horn since you have the book and I don't and the chances of it being stocked out here are totally zero!

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.