Souks of Oman

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 2nd November 2012, 06:26 PM

Note to Forum; New Omani Government policy ; Proof stamping Omani Silver artefacts.
I have already alluded to the fact that the Omani Government were considering getting in line on international copyright law regarding Omani made products. This has now been done with Omani Silver being officially stamped~ 92.275 or thereabouts. The process involves silver being taken off to be assayed officially by a government workshop and a stamp being applied to the item. The cost to the shop or workshop is reflected to the customer but is reasonably small. All silver Omani artefacts must be thus adorned by law. Any non up to the mark items are melted down.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 19th September 2013, 08:01 PM

Salaams All ~ Note to Forum. I thought now would be a good time to revisit this thread with a view to looking at where the souk finds its stock of swords and other weapons. It has been common practice for souk shop owners to run parallel with their own workshops doing small repairs and sometimes with sizeable refitting and restoration sidelines. I have outlined this practice in other threads but here it is time to observe more closely the international souk linkages that have existed for decades since 1970. Before that there was hardly any tourism because of the state of the country which had been in decline since the Suez Canal opened and before the influence of oil.

Once the dynamic leadership of the current ruler had begun to take effect the immediate transformation of the country ensued with perhaps the first big changes happening in medical facilities, clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges, communications and commerce which included a huge boost to the general souk in the capital Muscat. Muttrah Souk has dominated trade in Muscat for centuries and the lift afforded by Oman joining the 20th Century in 1970 cannot be over emphasised. Previously it had been in the dark ages by comparison. Before 1970 Oman didnt have any colleges (a couple of schools only) and no roads to speak of. The child death at birth ratio was about the worst on the planet.

What has happenend since 1970 has been the gradual errosion of artifacts through intense tourism traffic and since Muttrah Souk has been the central hub for such items the effect on the entire countries stock of antiquities has been dramatic. In addition, errosion of the local marketeers has meant that not only have the real antiquities disappeared but the local shopkeepers have also largely vanished. Replacing those... perhaps up to 80 or 90 % have gone.. are shop keepers from other countries which have always thrived in Muscat such as Persian, Indian, Pakistani and others ... I saw a new shop open recently from Syria. Whilst this may seem normal the net effect has been a slow drying up of original material. This never happened in, for example, Sharjah Souk which is relatively new and never went through the same transition as Muttrah. Sharjah is full of spurious material and always has been...In some ways however that showed the way in which Muttrah was sliding. So where does their stuff originate?

Much of the material comes out of troubled quarters as in the case of Syria whose souks have been all but obliterated by war and Yemen suffering a slow choking internal realignment but equally disruptive to Sanaa market activity with almost no tourism these days. The first individuals to get up and move or to carve out a business in such times are the market people... thus Muttrah is now "in a sense" a Sanaa outlet. I was there this week and the impact compared to a few months ago is clear. With diminishing stocks of original Omani gear the market holders are simply turning to the nearest source of Arabian goods..and since Sanaa has suffered huge losses because of internal strife it must look to other markets and with Oman on the doorstep they have flooded the diminishing market. After all the style of artifacts in Yemen is not so far removed from that of Oman or at least the average tourist cannot tell the difference .. but does it matter? It is a souk after all !

At the same time the Sanaa boys have seized an opportunity and are sucking hard to gather in from their own dwindling resources stuff enough to fill the burgeoning Omani demand. They, by the way impact the two main areas Muttrah (in Muscat) and Salalah but as yet not so much the interior souks of Nizwa, Senau, Buraimi, Sohar etc. (but its coming slowly) What this means is their own supply line particularly for sword and sword blades is Saudia and Ethiopia...both are being squeezed very hard now. Muttrah is awash with Ethiopian work via Yemen; a lot of it originating in the German blade trade in the 18th /19th C. Commonly seen are the multi grooved German/ Ethiopian blades on back street Sanaa workshop hilts and others.(many of the original hilts were rhino but these appear to have been removed and put onto Yemeni Jambia for the Sanaa Yemeni market) etc.

Some blades which look almost dead ringers for Omani blades but often stiff, inflexible items are cross hilted and matched onto Omani long hilts and scabbards which to the unsuspecting tourist eye look very Omani indeed. Shop holders don't exactly tell lies about these swords because they have no idea of their origins except that they are now in Oman so they must be Omani Swords no? and of course there is always the problem that they will always agree with a statement from a tourist like...Are these really Omani Swords?...Reply Oh Yes Omani yes yes...Hundreds of years old..thousands even....no? It should be remembered that backed up behind this tourist are 3,999 on the same cruise ship all pumping through the souk...in groups of 20 and 30... if this one doesn't buy it the next one may do.

Anyway, heres a blade I picked up which has not been played with but follows the other variation of blades passing through to buyers in the souk which aren't changed to Omani Style because they wouldn't look right.. like this European job with a six pointed star interspersed with 6 fleur de lys and containing a six sided geometry and 6 dots etc at the throat leading to a distinctive crown as the first decoration to the blade and Ethiopian script down the blade on one side and floral foliate design on the other. The blade which looks like its gone too far in the bend. Bent "straight blades" are quite common in Ethiopia I understand.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 21st September 2013, 06:12 AM

Salaams All~ Looking through notes and library this is an Ethiopian Gurade probably refashioned from a European sabre. The Rhino hilt long gone and probably on a Yemeni Jambia by now. Obtained in Muscat Muttrah 16 Sept 2013 and traded there from Sanaa Yemen two months before.

A further reference to Gurade can be seen at
http://stsathyre.tumblr.com/post/364...ord-dated-19th

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 3rd December 2013, 10:53 AM

Salaams all Note to Library ~Here is another variant off the same route~

This appears to be a mid to late 19th C German blade for the Ethiopian market rehilted with a Zanzibari/Yemeni style hilt (some sort of horn) and Yemeni crossguard (broken)..It has naive markings to the blade with a star similar to #8 above and a crowned Arabian head with a date and inscription under likely executed in Yemen. Floral decoration including wild animals heads and foliage dominate the blade pattern.. This is typically an Ethiopian 3 grooved (the full length) sword originally ending probably to a point but modified and with a single dot at the tip.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 5th December 2013, 04:10 PM

Salaams all... I happened to have my camera handy when I stumbled into an exhibition in the fort right next to Buraimi Souk... An old friend was there on one stall showing a few daggers... The one without the belt is not Omani but from the elusive Habaabi region of SAUDIA/YEMEN

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 6th December 2013, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams all Note to Library ~Here is another variant off the same route~

This appears to be a mid to late 19th C German blade for the Ethiopian market rehilted with a Zanzibari/Yemeni style hilt (some sort of horn) and Yemeni crossguard (broken)..It has naive markings to the blade with a star similar to #8 above and a crowned Arabian head with a date and inscription under likely executed in Yemen. Floral decoration including wild animals heads and foliage dominate the blade pattern.. This is typically an Ethiopian 3 grooved (the full length) sword originally ending probably to a point but modified and with a single dot at the tip.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams All Note to Library in respect of #11 I think the original set up of this hilt was with hand guard and D ring. This would place it rather more firmly in the backyard of Yemeni work..Probably Sanaa...using Ethiopian blade. Orig. German and onward via the souk interchange to Oman.
As below;

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 21st April 2014, 09:03 AM

Hello all ~ Salaams ~ Something odd has occured in the resupply procurement route of Swords and stuff into the region; The goods from Yemen and thus Ethiopia/Africa have all but stopped dead! The past month or two has seen the tap being turned off... Borders are strictly closed in terms of material moving from Yemen through the Omani souk system... The market being self correcting has turned to Persian and Indian/Pakistani goods to fill the void. It has been interesting to see how long stocks lasted from holdings of Yemeni items in Muscat souk shops... It seems like in no time at all massive stock piles of goods have literally vanished... hardly surprising when you consider the through traffic of people wandering the Muttrah souk system... litterally thousands daily...One cruise ship contains 4,000 holiday makers... and they park them 500 yards from the main souk entrance...Trade...It gets brisk !!

Buyers beware the new stuff is laden with the usual problems...but it is fascinating to see how fast the markets adapt. Thats life !!

As a strange caveat to this post.. dealers of the real Omani gear are reporting that getting the original antiques is much harder but that some souk shop owners have even released their personal stocks of long held antiquity into the system... It is an interesting time to collect...but very costly... very !

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 11th May 2014, 05:10 AM

Muttrah Souk. The entire Souk will be demolished and a new souk constructed over the old site. The program is expected to be completed in the next 2 years.
Before it disappears here are more pictures of the souk and its contents. This is the best store in the souk... the good stuff is at the back of the shop which is like Aladdins cave...

Just dropped in for tea and then lunch overlooking the harbour...Its a hard life !!

19th September 2013, 08:01 PM	#2
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Salaams All ~ Note to Forum. I thought now would be a good time to revisit this thread with a view to looking at where the souk finds its stock of swords and other weapons. It has been common practice for souk shop owners to run parallel with their own workshops doing small repairs and sometimes with sizeable refitting and restoration sidelines. I have outlined this practice in other threads but here it is time to observe more closely the international souk linkages that have existed for decades since 1970. Before that there was hardly any tourism because of the state of the country which had been in decline since the Suez Canal opened and before the influence of oil. Once the dynamic leadership of the current ruler had begun to take effect the immediate transformation of the country ensued with perhaps the first big changes happening in medical facilities, clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges, communications and commerce which included a huge boost to the general souk in the capital Muscat. Muttrah Souk has dominated trade in Muscat for centuries and the lift afforded by Oman joining the 20th Century in 1970 cannot be over emphasised. Previously it had been in the dark ages by comparison. Before 1970 Oman didnt have any colleges (a couple of schools only) and no roads to speak of. The child death at birth ratio was about the worst on the planet. What has happenend since 1970 has been the gradual errosion of artifacts through intense tourism traffic and since Muttrah Souk has been the central hub for such items the effect on the entire countries stock of antiquities has been dramatic. In addition, errosion of the local marketeers has meant that not only have the real antiquities disappeared but the local shopkeepers have also largely vanished. Replacing those... perhaps up to 80 or 90 % have gone.. are shop keepers from other countries which have always thrived in Muscat such as Persian, Indian, Pakistani and others ... I saw a new shop open recently from Syria. Whilst this may seem normal the net effect has been a slow drying up of original material. This never happened in, for example, Sharjah Souk which is relatively new and never went through the same transition as Muttrah. Sharjah is full of spurious material and always has been...In some ways however that showed the way in which Muttrah was sliding. So where does their stuff originate? Much of the material comes out of troubled quarters as in the case of Syria whose souks have been all but obliterated by war and Yemen suffering a slow choking internal realignment but equally disruptive to Sanaa market activity with almost no tourism these days. The first individuals to get up and move or to carve out a business in such times are the market people... thus Muttrah is now "in a sense" a Sanaa outlet. I was there this week and the impact compared to a few months ago is clear. With diminishing stocks of original Omani gear the market holders are simply turning to the nearest source of Arabian goods..and since Sanaa has suffered huge losses because of internal strife it must look to other markets and with Oman on the doorstep they have flooded the diminishing market. After all the style of artifacts in Yemen is not so far removed from that of Oman or at least the average tourist cannot tell the difference .. but does it matter? It is a souk after all ! At the same time the Sanaa boys have seized an opportunity and are sucking hard to gather in from their own dwindling resources stuff enough to fill the burgeoning Omani demand. They, by the way impact the two main areas Muttrah (in Muscat) and Salalah but as yet not so much the interior souks of Nizwa, Senau, Buraimi, Sohar etc. (but its coming slowly) What this means is their own supply line particularly for sword and sword blades is Saudia and Ethiopia...both are being squeezed very hard now. Muttrah is awash with Ethiopian work via Yemen; a lot of it originating in the German blade trade in the 18th /19th C. Commonly seen are the multi grooved German/ Ethiopian blades on back street Sanaa workshop hilts and others.(many of the original hilts were rhino but these appear to have been removed and put onto Yemeni Jambia for the Sanaa Yemeni market) etc. Some blades which look almost dead ringers for Omani blades but often stiff, inflexible items are cross hilted and matched onto Omani long hilts and scabbards which to the unsuspecting tourist eye look very Omani indeed. Shop holders don't exactly tell lies about these swords because they have no idea of their origins except that they are now in Oman so they must be Omani Swords no? and of course there is always the problem that they will always agree with a statement from a tourist like...Are these really Omani Swords?...Reply Oh Yes Omani yes yes...Hundreds of years old..thousands even....no? It should be remembered that backed up behind this tourist are 3,999 on the same cruise ship all pumping through the souk...in groups of 20 and 30... if this one doesn't buy it the next one may do. Anyway, heres a blade I picked up which has not been played with but follows the other variation of blades passing through to buyers in the souk which aren't changed to Omani Style because they wouldn't look right.. like this European job with a six pointed star interspersed with 6 fleur de lys and containing a six sided geometry and 6 dots etc at the throat leading to a distinctive crown as the first decoration to the blade and Ethiopian script down the blade on one side and floral foliate design on the other. The blade which looks like its gone too far in the bend. Bent "straight blades" are quite common in Ethiopia I understand. Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. Attached Images Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 19th September 2013 at 08:29 PM.

21st September 2013, 06:12 AM	#3
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Salaams All~ Looking through notes and library this is an Ethiopian Gurade probably refashioned from a European sabre. The Rhino hilt long gone and probably on a Yemeni Jambia by now. Obtained in Muscat Muttrah 16 Sept 2013 and traded there from Sanaa Yemen two months before. A further reference to Gurade can be seen at http://stsathyre.tumblr.com/post/364...ord-dated-19th Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 21st September 2013 at 07:42 AM.

3rd December 2013, 10:53 AM	#4
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Salaams all Note to Library ~Here is another variant off the same route~ This appears to be a mid to late 19th C German blade for the Ethiopian market rehilted with a Zanzibari/Yemeni style hilt (some sort of horn) and Yemeni crossguard (broken)..It has naive markings to the blade with a star similar to #8 above and a crowned Arabian head with a date and inscription under likely executed in Yemen. Floral decoration including wild animals heads and foliage dominate the blade pattern.. This is typically an Ethiopian 3 grooved (the full length) sword originally ending probably to a point but modified and with a single dot at the tip. Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. Attached Images Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 3rd December 2013 at 11:06 AM.

5th December 2013, 04:10 PM	#5
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Salaams all... I happened to have my camera handy when I stumbled into an exhibition in the fort right next to Buraimi Souk... An old friend was there on one stall showing a few daggers... The one without the belt is not Omani but from the elusive Habaabi region of SAUDIA/YEMEN Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. Attached Images

21st April 2014, 09:03 AM	#7
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Supply Changes. Hello all ~ Salaams ~ Something odd has occured in the resupply procurement route of Swords and stuff into the region; The goods from Yemen and thus Ethiopia/Africa have all but stopped dead! The past month or two has seen the tap being turned off... Borders are strictly closed in terms of material moving from Yemen through the Omani souk system... The market being self correcting has turned to Persian and Indian/Pakistani goods to fill the void. It has been interesting to see how long stocks lasted from holdings of Yemeni items in Muscat souk shops... It seems like in no time at all massive stock piles of goods have literally vanished... hardly surprising when you consider the through traffic of people wandering the Muttrah souk system... litterally thousands daily...One cruise ship contains 4,000 holiday makers... and they park them 500 yards from the main souk entrance...Trade...It gets brisk !! Buyers beware the new stuff is laden with the usual problems...but it is fascinating to see how fast the markets adapt. Thats life !! As a strange caveat to this post.. dealers of the real Omani gear are reporting that getting the original antiques is much harder but that some souk shop owners have even released their personal stocks of long held antiquity into the system... It is an interesting time to collect...but very costly... very ! Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

2nd November 2012, 06:26 PM	#1
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Note to Forum; New Omani Government policy ; Proof stamping Omani Silver artefacts. I have already alluded to the fact that the Omani Government were considering getting in line on international copyright law regarding Omani made products. This has now been done with Omani Silver being officially stamped~ 92.275 or thereabouts. The process involves silver being taken off to be assayed officially by a government workshop and a stamp being applied to the item. The cost to the shop or workshop is reflected to the customer but is reasonably small. All silver Omani artefacts must be thus adorned by law. Any non up to the mark items are melted down. Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

11th May 2014, 05:10 AM	#8
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Muttrah Souk. The entire Souk will be demolished and a new souk constructed over the old site. The program is expected to be completed in the next 2 years. Before it disappears here are more pictures of the souk and its contents. This is the best store in the souk... the good stuff is at the back of the shop which is like Aladdins cave... Just dropped in for tea and then lunch overlooking the harbour...Its a hard life !! Attached Images Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 11th May 2014 at 05:57 AM.