Thankyou Santa!! Omani silver and Jambiya

[kahnjar1]

Hi all. As promised the Jambiya, which I am fairly sure is Hadhramauti. The coins are silver 1/4 Rupee India and the latest is dated 1918. Most Jambiya I have seen of this type have red stones in place of the coins. This Jambiya was bought out of Oman in the early 1970s together with the Jewellery, which follows this in a post of its own. I believe however that the Jambiya is older-----maybe around the 1940s or 1950s. The hilt I am fairly sure is Rhino.
The blade of the jambiya is quite stained and I hope to improve on it's looks, but for the moment have just applied rustkiller.
Comments very welcome.
Regards Stu

[Gavin Nugent]

It is an interesting ethnographic lot Stu. It is nice to see the coins used and I guess this supports what Steve was nice enough to share, being Indian Craftsmen in the regions making these knives.

Nice that Ibrahiim shared his wealth of knowledge about the accruements too.

The horn unfortunately is not Rhino.

Gav

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by freebooter

It is an interesting ethnographic lot Stu. It is nice to see the coins used and I guess this supports what Steve was nice enough to share, being Indian Craftsmen in the regions making these knives.

Nice that Ibrahiim shared his wealth of knowledge about the accruements too.

The horn unfortunately is not Rhino.

Gav

LOL, I missed your post Gav!
That would certainly explain my feeling that the blade was Indian!
(note to self: read ALL previous posts!)

[kahnjar1]

Salaams Ibrahiim.
Thank you for the detailed description of my pieces. Nice to get the correct local names for them.
Regards Stu

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Salaams Ibrahiim.
Thank you for the detailed description of my pieces. Nice to get the correct local names for them.
Regards Stu

Salaams Khanjar1 ~ My first subject specialisation was always Omani Jewelery therefor I was a bit puzzled at the odd little finger ring with bumps... which I described as being related in design to the Nijimaat bu bedu stars of the bedouin bangle (or banjiri bu nijum) ... The reason of the puzzle?? I was looking in the wrong place for the wrong artefact... It is a ring from the southern region but its not a finger ring.

Its a toe ring !

I think we need a few arabic names for reference;
1. Toe rings are "Zikar" or "Mthani".
2. Thumb .."Jabirah".
3. Index "Shahid".
4. Middle finger Tower bird cage shaped. "Zar" plus another see below...
5. 3rd finger "Haisah" but round or hexagonal .
6. Little finger "Shadabiyah" comprise pyramids or ball stacks ...

* "Khatim bu fas"~ set with red glass often moon and stars engraved.
** "Khatim Murraba" ~ small/Big fig 5 geometry rings often part gold leaf.
*** "Khatim" ~ little rings with a coral or coloured glass or lapiz inset.

The last 3 can displace any of the other rings causing mild confusion and friendly banter whan discussing rings in the villages as it appears there is no set way to wear them except in the case of the thumb and index.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[kahnjar1]

I realise that these are not strictly weapons, but they came with other weaponry related items, so hope the Mods will let this run.

1. Ginger Pots--copper with either silver or tin wash. Most likely from Nizwa.
2. Heart shaped silver decoration for holding hair tidy at the back. Is attached to back of dress.
3.Shovel shaped hanger with red stone. Boys head dress "Dinar mal walad"
4.Hair decoration. Hooks on to other head decoration.
5.Six strand chin chain (most are 5 strand). Hooks at each end to head dress.
6.Silver Tweezer and pick set. Often worn as an accessory to the Jambiya/Khanjar.
7. Necklace with Hirz or Quran Box, probably from Nizwa. As can be seen this opens at one end, and YES there is a text inside. Very brittle so I will not attempt to unfold it.
8.Omani Rings. The pointed one is for the first finger, the other two yet to be identified.
9.Talahiq primer flask in silver and gold. Believed to be from Salalah.

Hope you enjoy, as these are now very rare items outside Oman.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

I realise that these are not strictly weapons, but they came with other weaponry related items, so hope the Mods will let this run.

1. Ginger Pots--copper with either silver or tin wash. Most likely from Nizwa.
2. Heart shaped silver decoration for holding hair tidy at the back. Is attached to back of dress.
3.Shovel shaped hanger with red stone. Boys head dress "Dinar mal walad"
4.Hair decoration. Hooks on to other head decoration.
5.Six strand chin chain (most are 5 strand). Hooks at each end to head dress.
6.Silver Tweezer and pick set. Often worn as an accessory to the Jambiya/Khanjar.
7. Necklace with Hirz or Quran Box, probably from Nizwa. As can be seen this opens at one end, and YES there is a text inside. Very brittle so I will not attempt to unfold it.
8.Omani Rings. The pointed one is for the first finger, the other two yet to be identified.
9.Talahiq primer flask in silver and gold. Believed to be from Salalah.

Hope you enjoy, as these are now very rare items outside Oman.

Salaams kahnjar1 ~ More detail ~

Ref your 1. The ginger jars are tinned not silvered. Tinning was achieved by dunking or drenching (often the work of Gypsies "Zutut" in days gone by) They are often coated both inside and out. Tin coating prevented verdigris poisoning and was done on spoons, utensils, plates, pots, coffee pots ... any utility objects of brass or copper used in food/drink preparation or presentation.

Ref Your 2. Heart Shaped Hair Decoration ~These danglers as bell forms are particular to the Oman Coast and are an Indian influence.

Ref your 3. Boys forehead decoration. The single bead is warding off the evil eye.

Ref Your 4. Hair decoration in the west has reduced down the milenia to the occasional hair bangle or decorated pins/clips whereas in Omani Tribal Jewelery there are many items; danglers, pins, corded weave-ins and enhancements frozen in time and therefor still worn. There is also an important linkup to ear rings often huge and worn in bunches supported by silver headchains as well as the underchin items.

Ref your 5. Underchin Omani Hair Hook and chain Jewelery; Richardson and Dore note another type close to this style with wool strands instead of silver from the Wahiba sands.

Ref your 6. The Tweezers for thorns and spikes for leather work. Worn with the Khanjar or on the gunbelt ~ also worn in the Sharqiyah in the head dress chained to the hagal(camel rope) around the head dress.

Ref your 7. They dont come much nicer than this!! ... Particularly nice is the face of the box decoration and equally the two first long silver ferrules at the left and right said to go back in time more than 1000 years. You can see the smaller spikey silver ferrules making up the bulk of the main necklace and these are important since the jewellery is wedding dowry and the spikes will eventually wear down slowly with age as maturity grows in the marriage...Thats the theory !

Ref your 8. Now I see the rings in closeup I can see what they are. These, in fact, follow the style of a type of bangle called Nijimaat mal Bedu... Stars of the bedouin. In the case of the little bumps being rather pointed they switch to being Showqaat or thorn tree bangles (they look like punk jewellery) but in this case we have rings in the likeness to the former. Since the thumb and index finger are booked out to one specific ring each that leaves a choice of either the middle finger or the next one but not the pinkie finger which has its own ring. I think you get the flavour of the friendly arguements that we have as on which finger they should be worn... I will shoot a picture of rings with the Omani names and showing which fingers etc.

Ref your 9. Talahiq. The Omani powder flask. One of at least 3 designs ; the others being gazelle horn and a wooden version.. Yours is used all over Oman not only Salalah ~ this looks like a typical Northern Omani design . Sometimes seen with a leather strap(that I see the remnants of on yours) and originally worn on the back of the neck hanging down ~ Purely practical for charging through the bushes.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Atlantia]

Hi Stu,


These items are indeed weapons related by comparison of their ornamentation with that of Jambiya, Shafra, Dharia and Khanjar.

Thankyou for adding such clear close-ups as they show the many elements of decoration that are familiar from the hilts and scabbards of that area.
The lines of tiny balls, pyramids of four balls, lines of raised disks etc.
For those who don't have examples, I've added a couple of pics, although you will have many more varied examples than I.
All the pieces that you show here seem of excellent quality and good age. The powder flask is particularly fine, as is the scroll box.
This would make a very worthy addition to the ornamentation comparison sticky thread if you have the time to put a little study together Stu!!

[Atlantia]

Your Jambiya is very interesting. I would be tempted to suggest a date of between the wars. The long curl on the scabbard is very distinctive as is the wide band on the scabbard with the inset rupees. A very interesting example. The blade appears to be quite thick and chunky which is good as hopefully the rust wont have left perforations.
Is it possible that the blade is also an Indian traded item, and the rupees allude to this?
Now that I can see the top of the hilt, I think the horn may be bovine/buffalo as it appears to have some delamination and no fibrous 'orange peel' effect on the end grain.