The Omani Shamshiir.

[Excalibur2025]

Originally Posted by Oliver Pinchot

At the earliest, this blade could be late 17th c. Much likelier mid-late 18th century. The guard is 18th century. Where it was found doesn't impact its origins, it is Persian, plain and simple. That it was carried (and apparently lost) in Zanzibar is an interesting side note.

There are excavated ivory artifacts dating back over 40,000 years which are surprisingly intact. No type of ivory I'm aware of degrades easily or quickly. Assuming the grips were ivory, which is far from certain unless there were particles attached to the tang, this sword lost its grips before it was... interred, as it were....

An overall image would be helpful.

Ivory can degrade within hundreds or thousands of years depending on the conditions. I had this confirmed by an expert in ivory. The local expert said in this case it would take more than four hundred years. The handle shows remnants of a white substance and there are also white traces at the top of the blade.

As I mentioned before, the tropical climate is very different to what most people are used to. We get nearly 50% more rain than the UK, plus of course it's very fertile here with lots of bacteria etc.

As for the style, two experts have said it's 17th century but could be earlier. The shamshir in the National Museum of Oman is almost the same style dated as 1675 CE.