Nimcha for Comments and Musings on Nimchas

[TVV]

Jim, thank you for your thorough comments. I have the Furusiyya Foundation book and it is a great reference. It shows a nimcha with a hilt, covered by turtle shell and silver (#41), and then mentions the 4 similar swords captured in 1732 and now in the Real Armeria. This info is again repeated in the recent Met book to which Kwiatek contributed translations. However, I have reasons to believe these turtle shell hilts appeared a century or so earlier, because a fine example now in the Rijksmuseum was captured by Michiel de Ruyter in 1655:

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/NG-NM-10412

In the Malta Armory, among the many nimchas there is one with a D-ring, but it is there nonetheless. These swords were trophies of the knights of St. John, captured in naval battles in the Mediterranean, in a period from the 16th to the late 18th centuries (the order seized to exist after that courtesy of Napoleon). So there are most certainly Maghrebi nimchas with this feature. The lovely example in the Hofburg (also shown in Claude's great book) also has a D-ring and since it is probably connected to the Habsburgs, it likely came from the Mediterranean too (and it is decorated in an Ottoman style).

When it comes to guard and quillon style, I wonder if the approach of trying to differentiate on a purely regional basis is flawed as some variations may be chronological in character.

Regards,
Teodor

[David R]

Originally Posted by TVV

In the Malta Armory, among the many nimchas there is one with a D-ring, but it is there nonetheless. These swords were trophies of the knights of St. John, captured in naval battles in the Mediterranean, in a period from the 16th to the late 18th centuries (the order seized to exist after that courtesy of Napoleon). So there are most certainly Maghrebi nimchas with this feature. The lovely example in the Hofburg (also shown in Claude's great book) also has a D-ring and since it is probably connected to the Habsburgs, it likely came from the Mediterranean too (and it is decorated in an Ottoman style).

When it comes to guard and quillon style, I wonder if the approach of trying to differentiate on a purely regional basis is flawed as some variations may be chronological in character.

Regards,
Teodor

A big thank you for posting those in the top photo. All too often we see only the "pretty" examples, rather than the workaday ones carried by the majority.

[TVV]

Originally Posted by David R

A big thank you for posting those in the top photo. All too often we see only the "pretty" examples, rather than the workaday ones carried by the majority.

David, in the link below you can see all of the nimchas and other Ottoman arms in the Knights' Armory in Valletta, most of them are fighting examples without the elaborate decoration reserved for those of higher status and wealth:

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24898

[eftihis]

I believe this sword was from the time of the siege of Malta.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1530

[David R]

Thank you for the link, some very interesting blades there, including what looks like a (pseudo) Shashka.
Which reminded me that during the 17th C English Civil War a captured crew of Barbary Pirates in Exeter Jail were made an offer they couldn't refuse... Fight for Parliament or be executed.
After the war those surviving were released to go home, and home was a lot of different places in the Muslim World. We know this because they were given the usual documents for released soldiery of the time which stated their home town/origin as by law they had to go by the most direct route.

[TVV]

Originally Posted by David R

Thank you for the link, some very interesting blades there, including what looks like a (pseudo) Shashka.

I believe this is simply a nimcha with a yataghan style hilt. While the nimcha style hilt was prevalent (in all its early variations), some preferred other hilt types. Claude shows a yataghan hilted example in his book as well.

[TVV]

Originally Posted by eftihis

I believe this sword was from the time of the siege of Malta.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1530

The Great Siege of Malta was all the way back in 1565. As far as I am aware, there are no trophies collected from the Ottomans during those events that have indisputable provenance. Only one of the swords in the Armory in Valletta is attributed to Turgut Reis, but considering that he was killed by stone debris from a cannon ball that hit near him deep into the Ottoman positions, it is unlikely that the Knights would have gotten the opportunity to retrieve anything from his body (Spiteri, the author of the only modern published catalogue of the collection expresses his doubts as well). It is very hard to link any sword directly to the Siege of Malta or even to that period.

That being said, you have a fantastic sword Eftihis. It is clearly old and unique due to the baskethilt.