Yemen Dagger

[Dom]

Originally Posted by LOUIEBLADES

Dom

Weapons of the Islamic World" (Swords & Armour) is this still in print?

I think so

à +

Dom

[Steve]

Hi guys,
I'd like to give my opinion on this jambiya and a slight correction to the descriptions offered above. It is definitely from Yemen.
I understand the reference to the " dharia" dagger in " Weapons of the Islamic World". However I think what J has is a "thouma". The "dharia" is actually called locally a "joulba" which has less curvature, is slightly larger with a more bulbous end than the Thouma. The Thouma and joulba were worn by a different class of person in the old social structure.

Without a better picture it is difficult to know if the hilt is rhino horn or not. The term " saifani" relates back to a Yemeni family who made jambiya daggers using a particular quality and colour of rhino horn. I would just call the dagger " Sana'a style" as the term " saifani" definitely relates to rhino horn.

The silver work looks Badihi ( jewish family) in style, although i'm not sure about the locket as the picture is poor. Hope this helps.
Steve

[Lew]

Originally Posted by Steve

Hi guys,
The "dharia" is actually called locally a "joulba" which has less curvature, is slightly larger with a more bulbous end than the Thouma. The Thouma and joulba were worn by a different class of person in the old social structure.



The silver work looks Badihi ( jewish family) in style, although i'm not sure about the locket as the picture is poor. Hope this helps.
Steve

Steve/Dom

Would these be considered Joulba or Badihi? Btw the top one is rhino.

[Jim McDougall]

Steve and Dom, I cant add anything to this, but wanted to thank you for these outstanding assessments on this dagger, especially for the attention to detail. I think the general arms collecting world has long been lulled into the casual identification of these Arabian daggers collectively as janbiyya, and this kind of attention has extended to them the respect and understanding they deserve. I must admit I had not truly understood the complexity and importance held toward these daggers, despite being aware they were very key to tradition in Arabia.

It seems there were some discussions and I believe a reference which detailed the coloring of the rhino horn and the associations to certain family and tribal heirarchy but cannot recall further as it was a while back. Could either of you note more on this ?

All very best regards,
Jim

[fearn]

I'm certainly not an expert, but we've had discussions over the years on how to test whether the hilt is rhino horn. Use the advanced search to check some of the older archives.

It's also worth reading the Guide to CITES if you do have a rhino horn hilt that's modern. There can be legal issues with transport of such an item.

Best,

F

[Lew]

Here is a link.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=RHINO+HORN

Btw you should read this article seems The Chinese are flooding the Yemen markets with cheap plastic hilted jambiya Is nothing sacred anymore .

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/m...ers-made-china

[Michael Blalock]

Jim, Though the word is spelled janbiyya it is pronounced in Yemen with an m so the transliteration jambiya is correct. Why that is I don't know becuase the root of the word is J*N*B which means "side", "sideways" or "beside" in Arabic.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Michael Blalock

Jim, Though the word is spelled janbiyya it is pronounced in Yemen with an m so the transliteration jambiya is correct. Why that is I don't know becuase the root of the word is J*N*B which means "side", "sideways" or "beside" in Arabic.

Hi Michael,
Thanks very much for explaining that, its always interesting to know more on the roots of these terms, and to understand the correct application.

All the best,
Jim