Is this saif from Yemen or Hyderabad India for the Yemeni market?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Sorry, my statement was open to misinterpretation. These swords were most certainly found in the Hadhramaut.
I just wondered how swords of this quality got there -
Were they made there?, and of course, by whom?
Were they exported there from Hyderabad as 'export' goods?
Were they brought back from Hyderabad as possessions or gifts by returning Hadhramis?
Regards
Richard

Hi Richard,
Trying to delineate what region a sword is actually from is somewhat futile in cases where there is so much intertribal, colonial and political flux. Hadhramaut was actually part of South Yemen during the Aden Protectorate in the 19th c.
I found some excerpts from "Arms and Armor of Arabia" Robert Elgood, 1994:
Regarding the Aden Protectorate:
"...the peoples of this area frequently served as mercenaries in Hyderabad and the swords are certainly made there and locally. The better Hyderabadi ones -like the daggers made for the Hadhramaut-show red foil inder the pierced silver scabbards. The chased silver flowers and wheel pattern on the sword scabbards are Indian in style". p.15

Also, p.83,
"..west from Oman is the Hadhramaut, which like Muscat, had close trading links with India. The Yafa'i were a tribe with long history of mercenary service to the Indian rulers though other tribes were also included".

p.84-
"...only the Mukalla sultans wore jewelled daggers- FROM Hyderabad.

p.86,
"...the very best janabi and nimsha blades were imported into the Hadhramaut from Hyderabad where they were made, and simply referred to as 'Haiderabad'."

This was of course the Hyderabad in the Deccan, not the place by same name now in Pakistan.

Naturally, there were silver workers in Hadhramaut, and clearly the blades for weapons were imported from India, however as noted in this text, there seems a strong suggestion that the higher quality swords were mounted in Hyderabad.

The diffusion of these swords would of course be most likely throughout the Yemen, though much of the attribution and connection to Hyderabad seems to be related to the mercenary activity and traffic with Hadhramaut.

The attached page from Elgood shows the 'Hadhramauti' examples. The note on red foil under piercework and the silver designs gave me the idea that my example was from Hyderabad for Hadhramaut because of those elements, but in mine the silver is backed by red velveteen rather than red foil.