Yemenite jambiya khanjar

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by francantolin

Thank's everybody for all precious comments !!

Aïee !! I thought the scabbard was made of with ''old'' silver mounts !

It was not too expensive so it's hopefully not too serious !!
That's life !

The Silver tarnishes quickly.
One good trick is to look at the leather on the scabbard.
This one is very recent.

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Kubur,
Can you elaborate on the horn or materials used on Yemeni hilts on janbiyya? I am way foreign to study on these daggers, but it seems that in many cases of swords of various types mounted in Yemen with Ethiopian blades.....the idea was to bring in shotels from Ethiopia in order to dismantle them for the rhino from the hilts.
These swords were typically mounted in San'aa and the horn used to fashion janbiyya hilts.
As I recall from discussions quite some time ago, there was a great deal of attention to the quality and character of the horn in grips, which was key to status of the wearer.

I am also unclear on the same distribution of rhino horn into Omani areas and character of those...similar guidelines ?

Naturally I am concerned with genuine traditionally worn examples and not the 'souvenier' types.

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Hi Kubur,
Can you elaborate on the horn or materials used on Yemeni hilts on janbiyya? .

Hi Jim,

Yes of course
You have different kind of material, horn (goat, cow, buffalo), rhino, girafe, ivory(walrus and elephant), amber, bakelite, alluminium, solid silver and wood.

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

in many cases of swords of various types mounted in Yemen with Ethiopian blades.....the idea was to bring in shotels from Ethiopia in order to dismantle them for the rhino from the hilts.

I wont be so sure about that. It's true for some of them but saying that all the rhino hilted jambiya were made from old shotels is not true. Yemeni and Omani imported raw material, rhino and other products from Africa.

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

there was a great deal of attention to the quality and character of the horn in grips, which was key to status of the wearer.
I am also unclear on the same distribution of rhino horn into Omani areas and character of those...similar guidelines ?

That's right. rhino jambiya and khanjar were very well considered (Elgood and other refs) and of course more expensive, so in a way they were a symbol of the status of the wearer. BUT I have seen (old photos and archives) poor bedouins with this kind of jambiya. Just to show off, look who I'm. The same is true now you can see some losers with very nice mobile phones!

Wooden hilted Yemeni jambiya (light brown wood) or Omani khanjar (dark brown wood) are common with old and recent models. With jambiya made for locals and some made for tourists.

Saying that cheap jambiya or non rhino hilted jambiya were made for tourist is not true and simplistic. It's important to built knowledge not only on the informations on the forum or on Wikipedia but to look at books and to see the real things, the objects!!! I guess that you will agree with me on the last one.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

After 1948 all traditional silver items plunged in quality in Yemen. The real expert silver smiths almost all left the country...Since then vast numbers of Swords with Rhino Hilts were imported from Ethiopia as has been said ......These were stripped off and used on Jambia. Regarding the hilt at #1 it looks like cow horn but as with all photos it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference but shall we say the hilt is not Rhino. Being either wood ...usually the cheapest or cowhorn just as cheap marks the Jambia in the lower rung in quality. Because of the vast amount of Rhino floating about from the cheaply imported Ethiopian swords huge numbers of weapons were made with Rhino Hilts.

In Yemen there are a number of sources that provide Rhino Horn... Recycled Jambia hilts, Hilts from Ethiopian swords, imported Rhino horn. Tourist weapons usually have cheap hilts...That doesn't mean all tourists only buy cheap Jambias...

In Oman Rhino Hilts have a quality quotient all of their own though nowadays among the thousands of Khanjars I have seen I see a lot of high density plastic hilts thus saving the species somewhat...Old Rhino Hilts are recycled and fetch a premium. Occasionally I see nice wooden hilts of Sandalwood which are expensive...but a lot less than Rhino... The cheap stuff has cow or bullhorn and the very cheap items have plain wood...

Ariel they are weapons! It is traditional in Yemen for all the men to chew Ghat...after about midday you could even say that the entire male population is some what drunk on the stuff although I slightly exaggerate...but the net effect is that these weapons do get pulled in anger.. Strong laws in Oman usually prevent this with huge penalties applied simply because the blade is such a dangerous one.

I would urge people to look beyond books and get out there and handle the goods and speak to the dealers . A great place to learn is an Arabian Souk. I placed a few pictures of Souks of Oman...in Miscellaneous Forum...

Please See http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15083 at#1 picture 3 is a typical display of Jambia where there are 50 or more on the wall...and hundreds more in the store...all tourist items. All very similar to the Jambia under scrutiny here...