A Khyber Knife, a Nimcha, and?

[Emanuel]

Hello to all,
This ebay auction
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6548466320&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:CA:1
ended recently, and as I watched the heated bidding battle unfold, I kept trying to understand the nature and worth of these swords. Two of them seemed obvious enougth. The top sword however remains a mistery to me. The guard recalls an African Baule sword, while the blade is European. I haven't found anything like it in Stone or anywhere else. The middle nimcha on the other is also really strange. Seems Moroccan, but the guard is curved instead of straight and the quillons don't seem right. Any thoughts?

[Rick]

Hi Manolo , I think the real battle may have been over the sword at the top of the picture . This may well be a very early piece from the Arabian peninsula .
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=708&highlight=yemen+sword

What amazes me is unless the high bidder received better photos of all the swords that he bid as high as he did especially since two of the three pieces are without scabbards .

Someone was ready to roll the dice . ;)

The middle sword may not be a true Nimcha , rather a saif .

As an addendum , you can learn a fair amount about a Bidder by looking at his feedback to see what he has purchased .

[Jeff D]

Hi Manolo,

Rick is correct the bidding was on the first sword which is an Omani kattara. This one is from Elgood's Arms and Armour of Arabia.

Jeff

[Rick]

Thanks for nailing it down Jeff . :)
No wonder Artzi was in the fray . ;)

[Emanuel]

Ah...Excellent, my thanks to both of you for clarifying the mistery.
I thought the top sword might be the one of interest...the other two seemed too common in contrast. The pictures I had received upon request were indeed quite poor form a good judgement -for me at least- and to see Oriental-Arms battle for it...guess sometimes you gotta go all out...
Once again my thanks for the help and for the literature as well.

Regards,
Manolo