Little-know daggers from Israel/Palestine

motan · 7th February 2017, 10:02 PM

Hello, I want to share these daggers from my collection because they are probably unfamiliar to most of you. In addition, if any of you have a similar one, I kindly ask you to share it with me and others.
They are very simple village-type daggers made for ordinary people. Artzi helped me to identify the first one and they are known to local collectors as Lebanese daggers. While this might be true, I suspect that most of them originate from within the borders of the British Mandate in Palestine for two reasons. First, the decoration on the scabbard of the lower 3 shows a pattern that is charateristic for Palestine and similar to shibriyas made there (see pic 3). Second, they all come from England and Australia, and 2 were sold as brought-back souveniers of British soldiers serving in the Middle East. Therefore, it is likely that they were bought in Palestine (not Lebanon) during GB presence there (1917-1947). The main reason I like them is personal. They come from the Upper Gallilea, near the Lebanese border, like me, but in another life.
Besides shibriyas, they also show resemblance to some other Southern Syrian/Palestinian daggers (pic 4). They have been mentioned in this forum before in a discussion of Lebanese daggers of Jezzine type, which are more presentation daggers than actually ethnographic items (see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ebanese+dagger). Thanks for watching.

BANDOOK · 8th February 2017, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motan

Hello, I want to share these daggers from my collection because they are probably unfamiliar to most of you. In addition, if any of you have a similar one, I kindly ask you to share it with me and others.
They are very simple village-type daggers made for ordinary people. Artzi helped me to identify the first one and they are known to local collectors as Lebanese daggers. While this might be true, I suspect that most of them originate from within the borders of the British Mandate in Palestine for two reasons. First, the decoration on the scabbard of the lower 3 shows a pattern that is charateristic for Palestine and similar to shibriyas made there (see pic 3). Second, they all come from England and Australia, and 2 were sold as brought-back souveniers of British soldiers serving in the Middle East. Therefore, it is likely that they were bought in Palestine (not Lebanon) during GB presence there (1917-1947). The main reason I like them is personal. They come from the Upper Gallilea, near the Lebanese border, like me, but in another life.
Besides shibriyas, they also show resemblance to some other Southern Syrian/Palestinian daggers (pic 4). They have been mentioned in this forum before in a discussion of Lebanese daggers of Jezzine type, which are more presentation daggers than actually ethnographic items (see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ebanese+dagger). Thanks for watching.

GREETINGS MOTAN
SHALOM
THIS IS THE DAGGER WHICH I HAD POSTED EARLIER AND YOU HAD TOLD ME ITS FROM A VILLAGE NEAR GOLAN HEIGHTS
HERE ARE PICTURES AGAIN
REGARDS
RAJESH

motan · 8th February 2017, 09:40 AM

Hi Rajesh, Thanks for posting this. Your dagger belongs to the same extended family of village-made small daggers from Southern Syria, Southern Lebanon and Israel. They all appear around 1900 and I have no idea why. Have there been similar ones before which did not survive? Anyway, there's another very similar one on DaveA's site Atkinson's Swords. Look under type Jabmiya (didn't want to copy photo from his site). Best regards, Eytan

BANDOOK · 11th February 2017, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motan

Hi Rajesh, Thanks for posting this. Your dagger belongs to the same extended family of village-made small daggers from Southern Syria, Southern Lebanon and Israel. They all appear around 1900 and I have no idea why. Have there been similar ones before which did not survive? Anyway, there's another very similar one on DaveA's site Atkinson's Swords. Look under type Jabmiya (didn't want to copy photo from his site). Best regards, Eytan

THANKS EYTAN
WILL CHECK,CHEERS

motan · 14th February 2017, 08:55 AM

Hello,
Just bought another one, thank to help from Sajen who put me in contac with the seller. This appears to be a camel head (??). The reason I show it is that it has a cross on the blade, showing that it was probably owned a Christian. Not surprising since Christian Arabs live on both sides of the Israel/Lebanon border, often in mixed villages of Cristian, Muslems and Druze sharing the same language and material culture. So this does not necessarily mean that these are Christian dagges. Still, it is always nice to have any identifying marks on a piece.

Oriental-Arms · 14th February 2017, 08:56 PM

Few more exemplars. All Palestinian with strong Syrian influence. NOT Lebanese (as properly stated by Eytan). Good workmanship and well forged sharp blades. Common in the Northern regions of Israel.

Most interesting is the last one. Small exemplar, signed on the bladse GAZA (In both Arabic and Latin letters) and dated 1931 on one face of the blade and 1921 (In Arabic numbers) on the other face (From the collection of Dr. M. Barzilay). Quite surprise as GAZA is in the far south.

motan · 15th February 2017, 08:51 AM

Hi Oriental Arms and thank you for showing some great examples of this type of daggers. Another feature that is common to Palestinian and Jordanian daggers (but laso to Sabik to the south) and different from all others in the region is the use of a simple belt loop

Miguel · 22nd February 2017, 03:35 PM

Hello Eytan, I just want to thank you for posting this most interesting and informative thread. I have never seen one of these daggers before, yet another Palestinian dagger not shown in any of my reference books. This is why I like this forum as there is always something to learn. Thanks again for sharing and thanks to the other participants for sharing their photos and knowledge.
Regards Miguel

7th February 2017, 10:02 PM	#1
motan Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Jerusalem Posts: 274	Little-know daggers from Israel/Palestine Hello, I want to share these daggers from my collection because they are probably unfamiliar to most of you. In addition, if any of you have a similar one, I kindly ask you to share it with me and others. They are very simple village-type daggers made for ordinary people. Artzi helped me to identify the first one and they are known to local collectors as Lebanese daggers. While this might be true, I suspect that most of them originate from within the borders of the British Mandate in Palestine for two reasons. First, the decoration on the scabbard of the lower 3 shows a pattern that is charateristic for Palestine and similar to shibriyas made there (see pic 3). Second, they all come from England and Australia, and 2 were sold as brought-back souveniers of British soldiers serving in the Middle East. Therefore, it is likely that they were bought in Palestine (not Lebanon) during GB presence there (1917-1947). The main reason I like them is personal. They come from the Upper Gallilea, near the Lebanese border, like me, but in another life. Besides shibriyas, they also show resemblance to some other Southern Syrian/Palestinian daggers (pic 4). They have been mentioned in this forum before in a discussion of Lebanese daggers of Jezzine type, which are more presentation daggers than actually ethnographic items (see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ebanese+dagger). Thanks for watching. Attached Images

8th February 2017, 09:40 AM	#3
motan Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Jerusalem Posts: 274	To Bandook Hi Rajesh, Thanks for posting this. Your dagger belongs to the same extended family of village-made small daggers from Southern Syria, Southern Lebanon and Israel. They all appear around 1900 and I have no idea why. Have there been similar ones before which did not survive? Anyway, there's another very similar one on DaveA's site Atkinson's Swords. Look under type Jabmiya (didn't want to copy photo from his site). Best regards, Eytan

14th February 2017, 08:55 AM	#5
motan Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Jerusalem Posts: 274	Another one Hello, Just bought another one, thank to help from Sajen who put me in contac with the seller. This appears to be a camel head (??). The reason I show it is that it has a cross on the blade, showing that it was probably owned a Christian. Not surprising since Christian Arabs live on both sides of the Israel/Lebanon border, often in mixed villages of Cristian, Muslems and Druze sharing the same language and material culture. So this does not necessarily mean that these are Christian dagges. Still, it is always nice to have any identifying marks on a piece. Attached Images

14th February 2017, 08:56 PM	#6
Oriental-Arms Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Haifa, Israel Posts: 183	Few more exemplars. All Palestinian with strong Syrian influence. NOT Lebanese (as properly stated by Eytan). Good workmanship and well forged sharp blades. Common in the Northern regions of Israel. Most interesting is the last one. Small exemplar, signed on the bladse GAZA (In both Arabic and Latin letters) and dated 1931 on one face of the blade and 1921 (In Arabic numbers) on the other face (From the collection of Dr. M. Barzilay). Quite surprise as GAZA is in the far south. Attached Images

15th February 2017, 08:51 AM	#7
motan Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Jerusalem Posts: 274	To Oriental Arms Hi Oriental Arms and thank you for showing some great examples of this type of daggers. Another feature that is common to Palestinian and Jordanian daggers (but laso to Sabik to the south) and different from all others in the region is the use of a simple belt loop

22nd February 2017, 03:35 PM	#8
Miguel Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 584	Hello Eytan, I just want to thank you for posting this most interesting and informative thread. I have never seen one of these daggers before, yet another Palestinian dagger not shown in any of my reference books. This is why I like this forum as there is always something to learn. Thanks again for sharing and thanks to the other participants for sharing their photos and knowledge. Regards Miguel