Blades found in Marrakech, Morocco
 

Am now in Marrakech , and I snapped pics of blades I can find. But let me first of all qualify that I don't know how old or how authentic these pieces are. I don't know anything about them as in I don't even know their names! :D

Well, at least I know one name now, after reading Lee's article.

Without further ado, the pics will be posted in two batches. This first batch pertains to those displayed in the bar of a luxury resort, Amanjena. Being a top-quality resort, I'm presuming that they were able to get good samples.

Here's the rest of the close-ups --

[continuation ...]

[this completes batch no. 1]

Here's the 2nd batch, taken from reputable antique shops in Marrakech --

some more ...

the rest of the 2nd and last batch ...

here's some pics also from a book i was browsing ...

still from the same book, and that's it :)

Thanks for the pictures. Nice. Crap! - Next time I am in Marrakech I will go for the antique shops. Impossible to find anything in the medinas - I tried, even in Fez.......

Thanks for the comments, Jose. Am now in Barcelona and will be in Madrid soon, to visit museums where I can find Filipino weapons. Am retracing the steps of Engar and Carlos :)

I'll surely post pics of Fil. blades I'll be able to take, following the guidelines of those museums.

As a side note, after being in Morocco and reading this thread, all the more it's getting clearer to me how a museum curator can do the honest mistake of placing together the blades per pic below.

This Wikipedia article is also helpful, and I quote:

In Latin, the word maurus (plural mauri) means coming from Mauretania, a Roman province on the northwestern fringe of Africa. In the Medieval Romance languages (such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian), the root appeared in such forms as mouro, moro, moir, and mor. Derivatives are found in today's versions of the languages.

Through nominalization, the root has taken on a variety of meanings. Moreno, from the Latin root, can mean "tanned" in Spain and Portugal. In Cuba and other Spanish-speaking countries, as in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, it can mean "black person" or "mulatto"[citation needed]. Also in Spanish, morapio is a humorous name for "wine", especially that which has not been "baptized" or mixed with water, i.e., pure unadulterated wine. Among Spanish speakers, moro ("Moor") came to have a broader meaning, applied to both Moros of Mindanao in the Philippines, and the moriscos of Granada. Moro is used to describe all things dark, as in "Moor", moreno, etc. It was used as a nickname; for instance, the Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza was called Il Moro because of his dark complexion.

In Portugal and Spain, mouro (feminine, moura) may also refer to an enchanted moura; the word derives from a Celtic root *MRVOS, (Gaulish: marvos), meaning a dead or supernatural being. The being, a female, was said to have golden or reddish hair and a fair face; it combed its long hair with a golden comb. Such "women" were said to have built the Paleolithic dolmens and megaliths and to still live in them. They were believed to have magical properties.[5][6] From this Celtic root, the name moor is also applied to unbaptised children, meaning not Christian.[7][8] In Basque, mairu means moor and also refers to a mythical people.[9]

hello my friend!!
 

[QUOTE=migueldiaz]Thanks for the comments, Jose. Am now in Barcelona and will be in Madrid soon, to visit museums where I can find Filipino weapons. Am retracing the steps of Engar and Carlos :)




Hello again!!
i hope you are happy in Spain!! When you go to Madrid remember that the Spanish Army Museum is in Toledo now,recently opened again, near Madrid and a very good place to visit.
best rergards
carlos

Thanks for sharing all the pics from your travels. It affords many of us an opportunity to see pieces from areas we may never get an opportunity to travel to.

Hello Carlos! :)

Thanks for the tip. Will surely head to that museum then, when I get to Madrid a few days from now. This morning, I was at the Victor Balaguer museum (at Vilanova I La Gertru) and they allowed me to take pics of the ones in storage. I found a few interesting (if not intriguing) pieces there, which pics I'll post very soon, for commentary.

I still have a half day here in Barcelona, tomorrow. I was planning to go to the Tarragona museum you visited. What's the address of the museum, if I may ask? (because I cannot find it in the Internet). Thanks in advance!

Hello Rick,

Thanks too for the note. Am just trying to contribute back to the "community" :) Best wishes.

Lorenz

good luck
 

[QUOTE=migueldiaz]Hello Carlos! :)

Thanks for the tip. Will surely head to that museum then, when I get to Madrid a few days from now. This morning, I was at the Victor Balaguer museum (at Vilanova I La Gertru) and they allowed me to take pics of the ones in storage. I found a few interesting (if not intriguing) pieces there, which pics I'll post very soon, for commentary.

I still have a half day here in Barcelona, tomorrow. I was planning to go to the Tarragona museum you visited. What's the address of the museum, if I may ask? (because I cannot find it in the Internet). Thanks in advance!

.

Hello !!
I just send you a private mail with mor instructions, but in advanve and to all the forum the museum is in La Nao street 12, near church of Tarragona. A link with more information.
http://www.costadoradaonline.net/Tar...s_DeArmas.html
In The other museum, in Vilanova, you are a lucky man!! I wait too this pictures of the store.
best regards
carlos

Please, please take great BIG photos of PI/Moro pieces and post! :D

Awe some!!! Holy cow...it's like being a kid in a Candy Shop! My wife would have to drag me out of those shops!! Wish they had nice ones like that in each country...look like quality goods...I bet the price was quite high as well!

Great photo documentation! Thanks so much for sharing, Miguel! Can't wait to see more pictures during your ongoing travels....gives me the traveling itch...where should I go :confused: :rolleyes: :p Sigh...have to wait...

Thanks again, Carlos. You are the best! :)

Jose, will do that for sure. And I found a barung at the Victor Balaguer museum from the 1880's Spain exhibition in which the description in the tag is surely most interesting. Am just organizing the pics and will post soon.

Nathaniel, thanks for the comments. And that's exactly what I felt (kid in a candy shop). The other thought was, 'too many blades, too little time' :D

And yes, the price was very high. If my wife was not giving me the dagger look as I was caressing them, I would have succumbed to the temptation ... and will have to tell the kids to stop schooling for a few years ;)

Back to Moroccan blades, I stumble upon this shop in Barcelona which sells mostly replicas. I was planning to buy an ersatz koummya, but there was none.

Just the same, it was fun looking at such a room full of 'toys'.

Here's some more pics from that shop, plus two pics from another shop along the same street.

The last two are from "Fuji Esports", a Martial Arts shop very close to Plaça Sant Jaume.
Ah, the memories...

Thank you for sharing your trip with us, Lorenz :)

Thanks too, Marc!

By the way, in all the museums I have visited here in Spain, the staff are super-helpful :)

To all: I visited this morning the Museo Nacional de Antroplogia located in Madrid. And I found several related items (i.e., African) --

Nice. You know just thinking I wish that Khalid had a website..... :shrug: