Yemeni sword

[Michael Blalock]

When we got this sword in Taiz in 1963 we were told it was Turkish. That is what I thought until I discussed it with Oriental-Arms back in 2002. Artzi told me he had seen others of these swords come from Yemen.
The Ottoman Turks held Yemen from the 1870's till 1918 when the last Pasha left. The repousse work on the hilts looks similar to Turkish work so it is not a big stretch to speculate that there were Turkish sword smiths that came to Yemen with the army and may have trained local artisans to copy their techniques. These swords could have been produced in Yemen for the Turks as a souvenir or made for local use by Yemeni's at weddings or even for sale in Aden. There is a tradition of renting swords for Yemeni weddings.
I know the Turkish styles had a big impact on the Jewish jewelers who developed styles to sell to the Turks and visitors to Aden.

In 1963 there were still Yemenis who had grown up under Ottoman rule, so, the original attribution that the sword is Turkish is very plausible. Some Turks stayed in the Imams administration until 1962. Taiz and its nearby port of Mocha was one of the more stable areas for the Turks and close to trade with Aden, the Omani coast and East Africa. I think it is credible that these swords were made in Yemen with Turkish influence that was incorporated onto the readily available blades found throughout Southern Arabia and East Africa at the time.