Odd Sword

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Iain

I am slightly unsure what is considered 'odd' about this sword. Its a European blade of likely Solingen make.

It is not Ethiopian in anyway.

The hilt appears to be typical for Omani remounts. But I am surprised Ibrahiim hasn't pointed that out?

Salaams Iain ..Yes you are partly right since I thought I would let people have a go at this without too much prompting from me.

Its odd because the blade marks are as you say undecipherable with a peculiar W and weird looking D and another D then a 1 then a very odd looking S or 5 .... So it looks like W D D 1 5 or rather 5 1 D D M

The hilt is an extended job. It looks like an Omanified sword particularly with the pommel of a type I am not familiar with in terms of the 6 pointed star decoration.. Thus, odd, from that standpoint.

I would say this was a European export blade which has had the Omani hilt extension and therefor likely to have journeyed along the Africa(Ethiopia) to Sanaa to Muttrah route (though oddly this came in as a photo only so I cant give it the bend test) ...and having ended up in a large private collection.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams Iain ..Yes you are partly right since I thought I would let people have a go at this without too much prompting from me.

Its odd because the blade marks are as you say undecipherable with a peculiar W and weird looking D and another D then a 1 then a very odd looking S or 5 .... So it looks like W D D 1 5 or rather 5 1 D D M

The hilt is an extended job. It looks like an Omanified sword particularly with the pommel of a type I am not familiar with in terms of the 6 pointed star decoration.. Thus, odd, from that standpoint.

I would say this was a European export blade which has had the Omani hilt extension and therefor likely to have journeyed along the Africa(Ethiopia) to Sanaa to Muttrah route (though oddly this came in as a photo only so I cant give it the bend test) ...and having ended up in a large private collection.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Right, well hopefully Jim or one of the other more European oriented members will have a go at the inscription. There are myriad versions of these, often spelled differently and making it a bit of a challenge at times. In any case the format and the anchor at the top of the inscription correspond to a number of blades I've see in the past that fall into the 16th century. So certainly a nice old blade I think.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi,
It would appear that someone has at some point attempted to imitate the interlocking triangles and proof slug found on 19thC British blades, presumably to increase the perceived value of the blade.
Regards,
Norman.

[TVV]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi,
It would appear that someone has at some point attempted to imitate the interlocking triangles and proof slug found on 19thC British blades, presumably to increase the perceived value of the blade.
Regards,
Norman.

To me it looks like the six-pointed star is on the pommel, and it is a pretty common symbol used throughout the Islamic World.

Regards,
Teodor

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by TVV

To me it looks like the six-pointed star is on the pommel, and it is a pretty common symbol used throughout the Islamic World.

Regards,
Teodor

Hi Teodor,
My mistake. Used to seeing ricasso at the bottom of a photo, jumped in with both feet.
My Regards,
Norman.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi Teodor,
My mistake. Used to seeing ricasso at the bottom of a photo, jumped in with both feet.
My Regards,
Norman.

Salaams Norman McCormick ~ I thought the same when I received the pictures ! It took me a while to figure it out as decoration on a pommel... I can't decide how this was achieved as it looks like a Wilkinson which has been hacked about... as I was saying it is quite an odd thing..

I have just posted a note to Early Makers Blade Marks By Jim McDougall on the subject Signs, Ornaments and inscriptions on Swords which is interesting.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Jim McDougall]

Without going through resources in usual lengthy foray, I'd say Iain is pretty much spot on suggesting a European arming sword, probably Walloon or Pappenheimer and probably 17th century.
The shouldered forte and panel with these letters correspond to similar arrangements in Spanish/Italian blades and their Solingen counterparts.

The letters are probably acrostic, and often occur representing various slogans, invocations or mottos so are typically indecipherable. This practice seems to have originated in Italy and was soon copied widely, however there are far earlier blades with such mysterious inscribed letters.

It does seem unusual for one of these blades to end up in this particular Omani context, they are more often likely to turn up in kaskara in the rather limited cases that they do appear. It would be anyone's guess as to how this blade came into what appears to be a 'Mutrah' setting, but I think Ibrahiims suggestion of entry into the 'Red Sea' network probable. The Bedouin across Yemeni regions often stockpiled numbers of blades from these sources.

The curious application of the 'Star of Solomon' on the pommel does seem decorative and might well be inspired by any number of sources, with this device often appearing on Ethiopian blades from England which came into Yemen from there. The primary interest in the blades out of Ethiopia was the rhino hilts, and the blades were either hilted in San'aa in various forms or went to trade sources eastward.