A further koummya

[corrado26]

Since many years I have a preference of particular koummyas and yesterday I could afford another fine examplee, it is number six in my collection of this type.
corrado26

[mariusgmioc]

Beautiful pieces. Do you know where were their blades made?

[corrado26]

No, I have absolutely no idea
corrado26

[Kubur]

Welcome to the club of the 1900 koummyas....

[Battara]

Nice camel bone examples!

[motan]

Hi, I am a bit confused. I always thought that these camel bone koummyas were tourist pieces from about 1940 and onwards. Also, they do not appear in the literture I know about koummyas.
Typical for the camel bone pieces I have seen so far are the poor silver work and especially the low quality blades, like the one shown by Kubur (sorry).
However, ALL the pieces shown by Corrado26 have good quality blades (though a bit different from the stadard), the quality of the work is good in general and they even seem to have some age. Can someone inlight me?

By the way, the blades and design are so similiar in all the daggers that they are probably from the same area/workshop.

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by motan

Can someone inlight me?
.

Yes I can
You are right and wrong.
My koummya is of a lesser quality but almost early as the ones presented before. Look at the stamp that you can see on local (shitty) blades, they don't even cut. But they are from koummya from the early 20th.
They are all from the 1900. And yes probably from one or two factories as they are very similar. Now look at my thread on Morocan pistols, you will see a lot of similarities too and I think that they were produced in the same area.
These pistols and these koummya were produced for an early tourist market.
and also long guns
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...light=morrocan

[motan]

Thanks Kubur. What you say makes a lot of sense, but..some questions are still open.
-The blades on Corrado26's pieces are very different. They are definately of good quality, but the are not typical koummya style. Hollow forged style is seen in koummyas that I think are from about the turn of the 19th c., but the extra bevel is strange. Some are marked with B and a number. Therefore, mariusgmioc's question about their origin is good one.
-The similarity to the guns is not that obvious, except for the use of camel bone plates.
So, I agree that these are probably early pieces for the tourist market.
Also, quality and age are not 1:1. Probably, some koummyas were made in less professional workshops, but are basically the same age as what they imitate ("village type") and have even been used by locals.
It is still true that most 19th c. pieces are of higher (but variable) quality and were made in one of the traditional styles described in http://nimcha.fr/koummya.htm

[motan]

Just a last remark. If the type is not een early one, but the quality is much better that what is usual for the type, they could well be "presentation" daggers, made as gift for important visitors.

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by motan

Just a last remark. If the type is not een early one, but the quality is much better that what is usual for the type, they could well be "presentation" daggers, made as gift for important visitors.

Exactly, sort of diplomatic gifts like the pistols and long guns ...

[corrado26]

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=koummya

This link shows more koummyas with the same quality blades and as is esplained, all have obviously been made for presentation purposes. My items all but one come from the collection of the former tennis Champion Baron von Cramm, who was married with the then richest women of the world Barbara Hutton. Cramm had since 1951 a transport firm in Egypt and so I think he bought these daggers in the fifties or maybe shortly before.
corrado26