Blade identification needed on Moroccan nimcha sword.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Hi Jean Luc

It's what i was thinking, a real nimcha a short sword
total length should be around 80cm?

Are you sure that your nimcha is Moroccan?


Kubur

That is of course the dilemma, in the true sense of the term, 'nimcha' is said to refer to a 'small' or 'short' sword. I have forgotten the details of this translation in discussions a short while back though.
However, while that term was sort of indiscriminately used by collectors to refer to these Maghrebi sabres. The classification of their variations has been debated/discussed often on these pages.

It is often presumed that these sabres are Moroccan, though they were known through the Maghrebi littoral. The one Briggs (1965) had was Algerian, and he was based in those regions when he wrote.
Stone wrote (1934, p.469) on NIMCHA, "...a Arab sabre with a knuckle guard rectangular at the base with drooping quillons on the opposite side. It is ALSO used in Morocco."

The Arab classification denotes the much wider use of these. The curious note is that 'nimcha' denotes a short sword, yet many, if not most of these are mounted with full length blades, even broadsword blades. These are mostly, undeniably, German in most cases. Some are ANDREA FERARA, which as we know were Solingen products.