Yemeni/Omani Jambiya differences

[kahnjar1]

Hi Manuel, Not quite sure what you define as "Tihama" but the attached is reputed to be from that area, and described by Elgood as such, though the script on the hilt suggests that it was made in Jeddah in 1958.
My direct email is sabiki@clear.net.nz so you might like to send me a pic of the item you are missing the piece of.
Stu

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Hi Manuel, Not quite sure what you define as "Tihama" but the attached is reputed to be from that area, and described by Elgood as such, though the script on the hilt suggests that it was made in Jeddah in 1958.
My direct email is sabiki@clear.net.nz so you might like to send me a pic of the item you are missing the piece of.
Stu

Thats a Thuma. Easy to recognise as the scabbard follows the blade shape rather than being turned J shaped or almost U shaped. I wonder if thats the word being discussed as I never heard of Tihama but its a bit out of my area so who knows?? I was told that the Thuma is worn on the side rather than at the front whereas the others are worn at front.
I found an excellent note at www.lindahendrickson.com on Yemeni belt weavings ....and a bit about Yemeni daggers.. she writes;

Men in Yemen do not commonly wear jewelry, except for silver rings. The one exception is the decorative dagger called a jambia, which is a common item of dress for most highland Yemeni men. The jambia has great symbolic value establishing one's place in social hierarchies and tribal membership, though it is rarely used as a weapon. The j-shaped version of this dagger, asib, is worn by tribesmen, while judges, legal scholars and religious elites wear a more gently-curved version called a thuma or tuza (similar to the one in this picture). This version worn by elites often displays very intricate and exquisite silver craftsmanship on the sheath.

[Conduit]

Hello gentlemen,

I am new to this forum so my apologies if placed my first post in the wrong thread as did not want to start a new discussion.
Would you be able to help me to date correctly these two jambiyas (I believe they are of Yemeni origin)?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

What happened in Yemen with silversmithing was a notable crash in the quality of silver decoration and expertise caused by the exodus in about 1948 of Jewish craftsmen to Israel. Since then it has continued and is almost complete. No craftsmen were left to hand over the expertise so that only a few weeks or months were used to do what little they could to get some sort of continuation of the specialty. There is no comparison to highly specialized Jewish Yemeni work to the quality on Yemeni work... not surprising. I'm afraid that's it so far as Jewish Yemeni work is concerned.. The weapons shown on thread are post 1948 but its not a matter of just time but who did the work and what was lost in the repatriation process. Most of the Omani styled daggers shown here aren't Omani and I see Bahraini, Emirati and other variants some from Saudia in the mixture but for a reasonable selection see The Omani Khanjar at library.... or hit the link below.... to compare but realise that what you are comparing is not a fair issue because of what is outlined above.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=omani+khanjar

By the way #23 ABOVE has the almost exact X IN LEATHER DECORATION ON THE SCABBARD AS DOES #9 AT http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...835#post241835



Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Kubur]

Hi
To answer precisely to your question, yes your jambiya are from Yemen and from the mid 20th c.The long discussion about the Jewish siversmiths has very little to do with your jambiya even for the date. Your jambiya are in between 1940-1970ties... Maybe earlier because of the copies of the tughra hidding the rivets of the hilt. But I'm not sure and I won't be presumptuous to give you more than that. Instead of refering to the same threads and same topics on this forum, I strongly advise you to buy Gracie's book on jambiya, a masterpiece.
BTW your jambiya are really nice, good catch!

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Reference..
A... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenite_silversmithing
B...https://www.researchgate.net/profile...ication_detail


To be fair to the thread starter the heading does state..Yemeni/Omani Jambiya differences Thus how to compare the two since almost the entire population which included most of the Jewish Yemeni silvermakers left the country for reasons we all know … The few remaining have also now gone. This virtually wiped quality Jewish Yemeni work off the map. As described in Ref.A AND in the conclusion at Ref B.( An excerpt states Quote'' Conclusion Operation “Magic Carpet” brought most members of the Jewish community from Yemen to Israel. Craftsmen left with their families and the millenary-old tradition of silversmithery died in Yemen''.Unquote.)


The brilliant book by Gracie does focus very greatly on the skills of these past masters but they are all gone now therefor it is difficult to compare roughly sand cast silver decoration with Omani work...In fact it is impossible.. The weapons shown are post 1948. The silver is poor quality and sand cast. It may be noted that Muslim Yemeni people looked at silversmithing as an unclean occupation and wouldn't do that work before 1948..

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.