Yemenite jambiya khanjar

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Hi Kubur,
Can you elaborate on the horn or materials used on Yemeni hilts on janbiyya? .

Hi Jim,

Yes of course
You have different kind of material, horn (goat, cow, buffalo), rhino, girafe, ivory(walrus and elephant), amber, bakelite, alluminium, solid silver and wood.

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

in many cases of swords of various types mounted in Yemen with Ethiopian blades.....the idea was to bring in shotels from Ethiopia in order to dismantle them for the rhino from the hilts.

I wont be so sure about that. It's true for some of them but saying that all the rhino hilted jambiya were made from old shotels is not true. Yemeni and Omani imported raw material, rhino and other products from Africa.

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

there was a great deal of attention to the quality and character of the horn in grips, which was key to status of the wearer.
I am also unclear on the same distribution of rhino horn into Omani areas and character of those...similar guidelines ?

That's right. rhino jambiya and khanjar were very well considered (Elgood and other refs) and of course more expensive, so in a way they were a symbol of the status of the wearer. BUT I have seen (old photos and archives) poor bedouins with this kind of jambiya. Just to show off, look who I'm. The same is true now you can see some losers with very nice mobile phones!

Wooden hilted Yemeni jambiya (light brown wood) or Omani khanjar (dark brown wood) are common with old and recent models. With jambiya made for locals and some made for tourists.

Saying that cheap jambiya or non rhino hilted jambiya were made for tourist is not true and simplistic. It's important to built knowledge not only on the informations on the forum or on Wikipedia but to look at books and to see the real things, the objects!!! I guess that you will agree with me on the last one.