thouma jambiya for comment

[Marc M.]

Greetings

My latest acquisition, a thouma jambiya. A disappointment upon arrival, a hollow blade and the decoration on the sheath seems a bit cheap. There are signs of wear on the belt sheath and handle.
I recently bought the interesting book by Steven Gracie and the examples in the book are of top quality, cannot be comparedto my copy.
Because the thouma was usually worn by the religious elite in Jemen, i wonder if this is a tourist or the genuine piece of low quality. Comments welcome.

Best regards
Marc

[TVV]

If the blade is indeed hollow that is obviously less than optimal, but the fittings look like they have some age. I am not sure how developed the tourist industry was in Yemen even during rare times of peace, and I have always thought that the majority of cheaper, more recent examples with hollow blades and plastic hilts were aimed at the local market. As such they would have still been used within the culture and therefore would still be ethnographic arms, even if their overall quality is low.

[Marc M.]

Originally Posted by TVV

If the blade is indeed hollow that is obviously less than optimal, but the fittings look like they have some age. I am not sure how developed the tourist industry was in Yemen even during rare times of peace, and I have always thought that the majority of cheaper, more recent examples with hollow blades and plastic hilts were aimed at the local market. As such they would have still been used within the culture and therefore would still be ethnographic arms, even if their overall quality is low.

Hello Teodor, thank you for your response. I agree with you that the tourist industry is very small or non-existent in Jemen and that there are jambiyas for rich and poor. I've probably been guided by the word 'elite' and expected more quality, it looked better on the seller's photo's.
There may be members of the religious elite who are not well off and can only afford this quality. If you look at the blade edge with a magnifying glass, you will see a seam here and there between the two halves. The handle is horn.
The photo's are of the first jambiya i bought, well used and again a hollow blade.

Best regards
Marc

[Peter Hudson]

I refer readers to the excellent detail contained at https://www.orientations.com.hk/high...-iconic-weapon

In addition Forum library has work on The Omani Khanjar and of note I always understood that the baldes were made of two halves joined at the centre spine at the blades ridge.

Peter Hudson.

[Marc M.]

Hi Peter
It seems to me a very complex way to make a hollow blade in the way you describe.
The two examples I have are welded on the cutting edge of the blade. After grinding away the weld, there are sometimes places where the seam is visible again. This is the case with both blades and it is therefore easy to determine that the blade is hollow.

Regards
Marc

[Peter Hudson]

Hello Marc,

I agree it is very odd how they appear to have been made. I almost never encountered single piece blades. Joining the two plates of blade seems peculiar but that is how they were apparently produced...although I never actually took a blade apart to confirm it. The other oddity about blades is the very short tang... something like half an inch only....and not rivetted ...simply glued. Khanjar makers in Oman imported blades and the performance of some buyers was quite amazing and despite the expense of a good hilt...Rhino or Giraffe...or Ivory much attention was given to the blade where it was said ...that the finest steel was obtained from metiorites!!
Having said that...
The following is a brilliant treatise on Khanjar making at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/195632974.pdf where the whole story unfolds including the forging of the single blade...
Peter Hudson.

[Marc M.]

Originally Posted by Peter Hudson

Hello Marc,

I agree it is very odd how they appear to have been made. I almost never encountered single piece blades. Joining the two plates of blade seems peculiar but that is how they were apparently produced...although I never actually took a blade apart to confirm it. The other oddity about blades is the very short tang... something like half an inch only....and not rivetted ...simply glued. Khanjar makers in Oman imported blades and the performance of some buyers was quite amazing and despite the expense of a good hilt...Rhino or Giraffe...or Ivory much attention was given to the blade where it was said ...that the finest steel was obtained from metiorites!!
Having said that...
The following is a brilliant treatise on Khanjar making at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/195632974.pdf where the whole story unfolds including the forging of the single blade...
Peter Hudson.

Hello Peter
indeed, the very short tang is a bit strange, but seems to be that way.
Perhaps because the jambiya has lost its function as a weapon, the tang has become shorter.
I try to read as much as possible about these objects, but haven't found anything yet that it had a longer tang in the past and was riveted through the handle. As a weapon, the blade was the most important part and much attention was paid to it, unlike today.
Fascinating objects, these Arabic curved daggers.
regards
Marc