Older Hijaz-Asir Wahabi Jambiya for Comment
 

I had been negotiating for this off-and-on for the last two months. Finally, all the stars aligned, and it has come into my possession. :)

A textbook example of the form… Hilt is of silver over a horn core. Scabbard is original to the knife, and is of silver (top) and brass (below), separated by copper wire securing what I presume to be the original belt. The blade has a medial ridge as shown and measures +/- 44 cm. The jambiya measures about 58 cm overall (about a half cm more including the scabbard).

I estimate it to be late 19th-early 20th, maybe leaning towards the former? :shrug: Good, honest wear to the scabbard. I'm pretty stoked on it, and it already has a place on the wall with our Indo Persian and Islamic antiques…

Anyway, all thoughts and comments welcome. :)

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/3379/obverse.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/4756/reverseu.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3...ndscabbard.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2963/scabbardtop.jpg

Well I hate to tell you but these are circa 1935-50. This style is fairly common and they do vary quite a bit in quality the good thing is this looks like one of the higher end pieces of this style.

Congrats

Hi Lew,

I've attached a couple additional photos below of the scabbard... the wear and patina IMHO seemed to indicate a bit more age. Tirri shows five "Wahabite" jambiyas, of which three look nearly identical to mine, all identified as "late 19th/early 20th." Bad information? What stylistic differences would mark an older piece? Also, I was under the impression the ridged blades (no ground fullers leaving a ridge vis stock removal, but a forged ridge) were good indicators of age? :confused:

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/9...rdbackside.jpg

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/331...tipobverse.jpg

Here's a thread I read several times over the course of negotiating for this piece:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10606

Your piece is a DHARIA dagger in the RASHAQ style and comes , as you say, from Asir/Hijaz area of Western Arabia. The term "wahabite" is a loose description used by (mainly) collectors and dealers to describe this type of long dagger.
I agree with Lew that the age of this is probably midish 20th Century 1940s to 1950s. They are not uncommon, in fact if you look, there are at least 2 on a well known auction site.
Pic attached of one I have in my collection. PM me if you wish to discuss anything "off line".
Regards Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for chiming in... I have to admit I was rather confident in the placement of age a little earlier based on the patina and wear to/on the scabbard and I am a little disappointed to hear I might have missed the date attribution as much as I did... :o

I am grateful to learn the proper terms for this particular form and style - something I didn't encounter in the several threads I had researched prior to my purchase.

I'm sending a PM, but as my box will be full, I am including my email addy so as to pick up the conversation off-site... I found one of the ones offered for sale, but can't find the other.

For my own edification, what stylistic cues differentiate earlier (say 1st quarter 20th C) dharias from later (i.e., 2nd quarter 20th C) examples? And is Tirri occupying precious space on my bookshelf as an encyclopedic paperweight? :confused:

Hi Stu
you are correct, there is a dichotomy between
- Asir/Hijaz - it's a region, close to the western coast
- Wahabism - has it's roots in Najd region, in the central region of the KSA

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/895...ajdmap1150.jpg

à +

Dom

definitively a very nice jambiya, conform to the Saudi tradition, no doubt that the belt is original, congratulations :D

à +

Dom

Hi laEspadaAncha

Great example. As you'll have seen while researching these, I have one myself (slight variation).
I've seen a couple recently with activity in the steel. I'd definately have a look on yours as the blade looks like a very good quality example in any event!

Congrats indeed. A lovely thing.

Best
Gene

Hello Dom and Gene,

Thank you both for your comments... :) While maybe not quite as old as I had originally hoped, it is nonetheless a classic and authentic example of the form, and I definitely am pleased to be able to have it in my rather humble collection.

Gene, I agree the blade is a quality blade, noticeably better IMO than my Omani example of the same period.

Regards,

Chris