Nejdi Sword, Authentic or modern repro?

[A.alnakkas]

Hello fellas,

A friend of mine owns this sword, he wanted me to check it and at first glimpse I thought its one of those well made saudi reproduction swords but then I saw the stamp on the blade. Can anyone offer opinion about this sword please?

Here are the picts:

[Dom]

Hi my Friend

in the year 1980,
I saw Yemeni blacksmith manufacturing this type of swords, in the Jeddah Bedouin suq

in the year 1990,
I bought two swords from Kuweit (!), for our Cairo home decor,
as far as I know, was manufactured in Syria,
with a quality well below yours, but with more or less the same hilt shape (pics here attached)

nevertheless, the blade looks older,
very unusual to find a stamp figuring an human, on a Saudi sword (!) ...
wouldn't be appreciated by the Wahhabits ...

all the best

à +

Dom

[A.alnakkas]

Salam Sheikh Dom,

Thanks for the opinion; i have seen many low quality syrian nejdi style swords, they generally have flimsy blunt blades. The saudi ones are of great quality but are very underrated by collectors simply because they are new, they generally come with blunt blades since they are used for traditional dancing, this one is razor sharp though. This one has new fitting and saudi halalas (coins) that are typical to modern repros but of all the ones I seen online and in person, I never saw one with a stamped blade (modern ones that is) so this one could possibly have an old blade rehilted recently (coins dating to 1353 hijri)

The stamp looks like an imitation clauberg knight and that is common in old arabian manufactured blades. I have also been told that such swords were at somepoint rehilted in mass.

I may try to get this one off my friend since even if its new, its still a quality piece with real deal silver. The bad news is that am broke

[Dom]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

The saudi ones are of great quality but are very underrated by collectors simply because they are new

Sabah el Nour ya Bek

keep in mind that what is new today, will be old tomorrow ...

for instance, it's considerate as antiques, and forbidden to trade with ...
- in Egypt today all objects older than 100 years (item 1 of the 1st chapter for the Law of antiquities protection) must be transfered to museum
- in Greece, the law said 180 years
- in Italie it's 50 years
I think that in Turkey it's the same (in France it's different)

the Saudi saîfs or swords available on the market, excepted for some prestigious items, aren't oldest than 110/115 years,
date of Saudi land reconquest, by Abdelazizi al Saoud, that means, the day before yesterday

I agree with you,
if I have opportunity to acquire a sword like yours at good price,
I will not hesitated to display it in my collection
and ... "Al-Hamdoulillah" if are very underrated by collectors
all the best

à +

Dom

[tom hyle]

Is that a bicorner hat?
I notice what look like incompletely polished pits on the blade, in the close up.
Can we see a close up of the grooves?