The Omani Khanjar

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All ~ The most common style of fake Khanjar for sale in the souks is based on the Royal Khanjar style ... The blade has a rather weak tinny ding to it and the metal is very shiny whitemetal or zinc looking. The rings tend to be a bit thin and small. The hilts are made of cheap wood. Look around the shop you may well see a heap of these ready to roll out once one is sold. No attempt has been made by the automatic workshop (somewhere in India)to individualise each Khanjar and if you can pick up two just check the details ...Copied fakes are usually identical. Heres five;

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All; Note to Library. This Khanjar shows clearly the design known as The Eyes of The Bedouin, and is a Coastal, Baatinah style of 4 ringer. The hilt is poly.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

How to clean silver?

Salaams all ~ I have said that a quick way to clean silver is with toothpaste, however, there are some pretty effective brands like silvo which also do a good job. The traditional workshops use a burnishing technique that I have already described at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...omani+khanjars ..see # 26.

Another technique is with lemon juice. Literally squeze one lemon and using the juice and brush (I use a brass wire or copper wire brush) then rinse the object under clean water and repeat where needed... then rinse and dry... job done.

I show a pair of bangles; "Stars of the bedouin" and a pair of ear rings " halaq" (incomplete) one piece of each is cleaned. Silver is quite pure and oxidises quite quickly so the patina will come back in a few months. The wire brush is able to shift the oxide easily but doesn't scratch the silver.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[NovelsRus]

Salaams, Ibrahim,

Long time no talk to! How have you been keeping? How's the shop going? I know you're especially busy this time of year, so I'll try to be brief. Unfortunately, I am a novelist (i.e., a windbag), so please bear with me.

Ibrahim, in your business, do you have much dealing with older copper, bronze, brass or silver materials? I've lately begun collecting ancient Viking relics from the Baltic region, where they first began sailing around raiding their neighbors and acting like outlaw bikers of the sea, back in the 7th Century. As a result, I'm dealing with a lot of truly ancient, long-buried items that are as much as 1200-1300 years old. You can imagine what they look like by the time I see them. Most don't even resemble the items they used to be (jewelry, flints, arrowheads, etc.) I'll attach a couple of Before and After photos of some Viking rings I bought recently, so you can see what these old pieces can turn into after the right amount of massaging, rubbing and begging.

So, my question, good sir, is this: Do you know of any do-it-yourself, home recipes for cleaning ancient bronze, brass or copper? I'm looking for something you can whip together in your own kitchen that's inexpensive, effective, yet gentle (especially on brass). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance, my friend, for any advice you might have.

Sincerely,

John, i.e., NovelsRus

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by NovelsRus

Salaams, Ibrahim,

Long time no talk to! How have you been keeping? How's the shop going? I know you're especially busy this time of year, so I'll try to be brief. Unfortunately, I am a novelist (i.e., a windbag), so please bear with me.

Ibrahim, in your business, do you have much dealing with older copper, bronze, brass or silver materials? I've lately begun collecting ancient Viking relics from the Baltic region, where they first began sailing around raiding their neighbors and acting like outlaw bikers of the sea, back in the 7th Century. As a result, I'm dealing with a lot of truly ancient, long-buried items that are as much as 1200-1300 years old. You can imagine what they look like by the time I see them. Most don't even resemble the items they used to be (jewelry, flints, arrowheads, etc.) I'll attach a couple of Before and After photos of some Viking rings I bought recently, so you can see what these old pieces can turn into after the right amount of massaging, rubbing and begging.

So, my question, good sir, is this: Do you know of any do-it-yourself, home recipes for cleaning ancient bronze, brass or copper? I'm looking for something you can whip together in your own kitchen that's inexpensive, effective, yet gentle (especially on brass). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance, my friend, for any advice you might have.

Sincerely,

John, i.e., NovelsRus

Salaams NovelsRus, See http://robertbeauford.net/cleaning_ancient_coins and see how the expert on antiquity and restoration of such items carefully explains the whole thing... This website has everything you will need. The cleaning tips are well researched ~ just follow his advice.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi

[NovelsRus]

Thanks, Ibrahim! I'll check out the site ASAP.

All best wishes,

John

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All ~ Note to Forum. The Muscat Khanjar with cloth belt and money container worn on the belt.(often 2)

The Muscat Khanjar another example of which is at Ruth Hawleys masterwork Omani Silver

The Muscat Khanjar is typically made with a TEE shaped hilt and the main body of the scabbard displays the same ring formation as the Royal Khanjar(see #1) and must surely have been the main influence on Sheherazade who designed the Royal Khanjar hilt matching it to a 7 ringer Scabbard in similar fashion...in about 1850

What is nice about the little money container is that it has 33 little circles decorating the front cover illustrating the geometric indicator for all the words for God... in the short version 33... In the full version 100.

This Khanjar was bought in Mutrah in the early 70s and is a fine example with a cowhorn hilt and very nice silver work.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.