Oman, Morocco or Zanzibar?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Hi Jim,
The silver decoration is separate and is not part of the backstrap. My pic has been used above to illustrate. Here it is again.
Stu

Khanjar 1, Jim, Norman ~ Salaams all;

Khanjar 1 That leaf pattern...Its identical .. Absolutely to the other Nimcha ...and so are the quillons. That means we could be looking at the same manufacturing base.. My thoughts are that this could be foliage or plant based... herbal or spice related thus the link to perhaps Zanzibar (Nutmeg for example). It could be scorpion in style thus Hyderabad enters the scene as pointed out by Jim above...It is my view that this type of work (and it is very specific and of a high quality compared to the roughly hewn Yemeni type) could in fact be military~ and currently the chase is on to track one down. It would not surprise me at all to discover the weapon as an issue weapon to Omani Military... Navy?...Officers in the 19th C.

Jim Thanks for the heads up on Hyderabad ... I am fairly confident that this hilt mark is a pointer to the manufacturing base of the hilts unless it transpires the emblem was added later after the hilts were delivered. Could it be that the hilts were made either in Zanzibar in which case I need to see the top of the pommels on the gold and Ivory items to compare.. or are we possibly looking at Hyderabadi style, imported hilts. Naturally I have not ruled out Hadramaut. I remember a potential weapon from there with almost the same pommel decorationon in brass http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...nzibari+nimcha

Norman..Yes; superb sword (I may be wrong about the pommel top on yours as it has the superb quillons of the Ivory and Gold Zanzibari Nimcha. Maybe it just fell off and got replaced. I have some notes on that sword somewhere...and I have added those to your fine thread on the subject...at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showt...ighlight=nimcha

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.