Zanzibari (?) Saif for Comment

[TVV]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your comments, some very good observations and questions.

I believe the hilt, as far as the horn part is concerned, is as old as the blade. Are the brass fittings newer? It is possible, but hard for me to tell for sure. I am attaching two pictures of a sword with a similar hilt, which I believe was sold in one of Auctions Imperial past auctions. I hope Oliver would not mind me using those images for comparison purposes here. The guard is very similar, down to the X pattern on the knuckle bow.

Richard could be on to something as well. The brass fittings do have a certain SE Asian feel to them. Besides, when it comes to the blade, the closest one I have in my collection is on a piso podang, from the other end of the Indian Ocean, but certainly within the trade network of Arab and Swahili traders from the coasts of East Africa.

Regards,
Teodor

[Jim McDougall]

SE Asia was very much an extension of the trade networks being discussed from East Africa and Red Sea to India.....and from there eastward. Trade was of course not from one location to another in extreme distances, but interaction in ports of call and entrepots throughout these networks. It is well known that trade blades commonly seen in Africa, Arabia and India are found in SE Asia just as shown in the piso podang. I have seen these with the same 'Assad Adullah' Persian trade blades seen in Bedouin sabres.

The diffusion of all aspects of cultures and nations diffused constantly through these routes, which presents the ever present conundrums we face in trying to classify many weapon forms.

The excellent example of the sa'if form we term 'nimcha' shown by Stu seems to me the 'classic' form we regard as Zanzibari but as discussed certainly of far broader scope in actual use. The iron guard and beautifully fluted grips are features indicating earlier example with solid character of such weapons genuinely in use and worn accordingly.

These examples being discussed in the original post with good old blades, but refurbished with thin, rudimentary mounts in easily worked brass, and with scribed in motif recalling other symbols and marks are clearly more modern creations.

In the curious motif being noted, the X and lines, these may well be aesthetically adopted devices which appealed to the fabricators who furbished these weapons. In the case of the example shown in comparison by Teodor, interestingly the same close in downturned quillons are seen, and the noted 'X' motif present on the thin brass mounts.
While not suggesting a connection, I would note that these X's with dots inside each segment were also a cypher with Masonic associations (known as the 'pigpen' cypher) used in numeric codes along with others.

[kahnjar1]

The second lot of pics posted by Teodor also IMHO show a later addition of a guard to an original hilt. Whilst the decoration on the knuckle guard and quillons is similar in both cases, the actual guard itself would, in my opinion not be much use in protecting the users hand due to the thin metal used.
Though obviously not the "original" guard, none the less the maker has spent some time to nicely decorate his work.
Maybe we could term this a "tribal" sword. I have a number of these which show grades of making, ranging from quite good to really rough.
Stu

[Jim McDougall]

I think 'tribal' as good a term as any. In more recent times it seems swords were put together from old components for no better reason than the notion of military fashioned groups wearing them in a traditional sense.
The swords from Yemen were simply ersatz weapons for such wear during the many insurgencies there in the civil wars etc. Rank and file did not always have firearms so any weapon would do.

Also, in a 'parade' context, a large showing of 'forces' wearing swords in ceremonial or other elaborate events would be most impressive. However, these weapons despite using sound old blades, were not serviceable as far as combat weapons.
Think of a contingent of mounted forces in some colonial region riding in review and all wearing swords which look good, but close inspection not so much.

Ethnographic weapons likely have a good many weapons of traditional forms put together in more recent times in these kinds of capacities.

[TVV]

We really know very little about these swords. For other arms and armor, we have period artwork, provenance examples in collections, archeological finds, fencing manuals and of course, multiple articles and books on the subject. Not the case when it comes to these swords from Eastern Africa.

Elgood does not illustrate them, as his book does not expand to the Arab colonies along Eastern Africa. Spring does not even mention the weapons of Zanzibar and the other Arab trading posts, as his book is focused on pure African forms only and not on any he considers to be introduced from outside. Hales has some very nice examples and an interesting picture from the Comoros, where this hilt style was also popular well into the 19th century. And of course, we have Buttin's plates. There are occasional museum exhibit catalogues where a few of these swords are shown and invariably ascribed to the Maghreb in error.

I believe the hilt form evolved over the years. To me, Stu's sword looks like it belongs to a much older style from the 18th century or even earlier, when contact with the Portuguese influenced the complex guard shape with its D-ring. As we can see on the ivory hilted status symbol examples, the D-ring is gone, replaced by 3 quillons. It is possible that at some point during the 19th century, some less elaborate, more munitions grade examples had simplified guards.

As for the sword hand protection issue, I am not sure it was as important to the wearers of these swords during the 19th century as we are making it out to be. We know that with the ascent of Oman in the region, the other popular sword style was that of what we refer to as kattara, as can be seen on pictures of Tippu Tip and other prominent people from the Swahili coast in the late19th century. Of course, the kattara has no guard whatsoever. I guess the locals felt that blocking with a buckler was sufficient, or hand protection for the sword hand may not have been deemed crucial in an era where firearms were taking over as the primary weapon.

I guess, all we can do at this point is simply keep collecting photos and keep collecting examples of various quality and style until we start putting the puzzle together little by little. Of course, all of this is skewed by the prevalence of higher end examples: munitions grade items were far more likely to be discarded once functionally obsolete as there was very little incentive to keep them. The same applies to photos as most of the ones we have are staged portraits of notables and their families.

It is not easy, but learning is part of the fun.

[Jim McDougall]

Teodor,
Wonderfully thought out and well written synopsis on these sword conundrums!! You have hit perfectly on the dilemmas of trying to adequately study and classify these examples, and I completely agree in the hopes that we can keep the discussion going here.

As you well put it, not easy, but a lot of fun learning here together

Thank you,
Jim

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

See http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=NIMCHA where the three charts of Buttin clearly show weapons of different areas but no mention on the charts of Nimcha. They all illustrate what we consider as Nimcha but the charts are by no means clear... There are however many examples and possibly many years work to exactly untangle all the details though there are weapons from both areas Morocco and Zanzibar which have D Rings and from both areas weapons without... The D ring is thus not a deciding variable...though in both areas there may be influence from Portugal or close by in the addition of D rings... To deepen the problem Buttin places a third chart netting in other weapons in the Indian Ocean and also Sri Lankan Kastane...etc. The huge number of "Nimcha" styles makes the study of this form well adorned with examples so we actually do know a lot about them although there is much to be clarified... Buttin has placed it all in front of us but I fear we have not seen the wood for the trees

Comparing Omani weapons with these swords is decidedly unstable since they are unrelated to the Omani Dancer. I cannot agree that the Omani flexible dancer is in any way or form related to a curved bladed Knuckle Guarded item...designed for fighting whilst the Omani dancer is certainly not despite its Terrs and Sayf mock battle contest..There is some suggestion in one Buttin Chart that a Omani Shamshir form may be related although I prefer to look at The Persian Shamshir for that link through the Baluch style already discussed. It may however be linked...Buttin shows several distinctly maritime cutlass blade types on Nimcha forms...probably imported from Europe...moreover his fine work opens up more research potential than it answers making this one of the great conundrums we have yet to crack.

If only they could talk !!

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.