Old Omani Saif

[TVV]

Thank you for your responses.

Iain,

Yes, the fuller is unusual, not sure what that would signify though.

Ibrahiim,

Your passion about ethnographic arms is admirable and overall an asset to this forum. I am well aware of your hypothesis about Omani swords - after all, the whole discussion started in a 12-page thread for a sword I posted years ago. I am sure you are also aware that I am among the many members here who simply find that hypothesis factually incorrect. I do not expect you to change your position, but you should also understand that posting the same hypothesis over and over and over again will not make it true or make us accept it. Based on that, I will ask that we avoid the topic of your theory about the "battle" and "dance" swords here, as doing so will be entirely unproductive at this point.

Back to the subject of the sword in hand: everything is possible, including a marriage of hilt and blade. I am sure that there is such a practice in Oman, and to deny so would be naïve. The blade is of a shape that fits the older Omani sword shape and not much else. Are you aware of any Indian, Persian or Central Asian swords that have short wide thin wootz blades that fit the measurements I gave above, because I cannot? The fact that it is made of wootz is also important in another manner. The crucible steel technology has been recreated in modern times, thanks to the effort of researchers and bladesmiths, some of whom are members here. Based on what I have seen, just knowing how to replicate the process does not make producing crucible steel easy or cheap, however. So in the worst possible case, this could be a marriage of an old hilt with an old blade from another Omani sword, though the pitch inside the hilt looks to have some age and the blade width fits the sword perfectly.

Regards,
Teodor