Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

CharlesS · 29th December 2013, 04:45 PM

Hi,

Nice, interesting piece here. Here's all I can add:

Looks like a good old Nimcha(I use this word loosely as this sword could have originated closer to the Arabian Sea and East Africa) blade of clipped tip form. Shows a lot of age and wear and may or may not benefit from a cleaning, depending on the degree of rust, pitting, etc.

The hilt is more of a puzzle as the metal guard has some outstanding details but its age just doesn't jive with the blade. Either it is new or highly cleaned.

The bone appears very recent, was possibly born with the remainder of the hilt(metal parts), but shows no patination that bone that had any degree of handling or age would. The crude-ish carving of the bone doesn't really match the quality of the metal portions of the hilt.

The scabbard appears to be the wooden remains of fine tooled leather scabbard. Looks like the leather has been stripped and the wood laid bare. When/if this was originally covered by a thin layer of hide it would have looked very impressive and really highlighted the carving.

I think it is very likely this is a good old blade and worn scabbard refitted with a new hilt. The scabbard and blade match up age-wise....the hilt simply does not.

I believe your sword's hilt is an attempt to imitate this:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=nimcha

29th December 2013, 04:45 PM	#3
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,855	Hi, Nice, interesting piece here. Here's all I can add: Looks like a good old Nimcha(I use this word loosely as this sword could have originated closer to the Arabian Sea and East Africa) blade of clipped tip form. Shows a lot of age and wear and may or may not benefit from a cleaning, depending on the degree of rust, pitting, etc. The hilt is more of a puzzle as the metal guard has some outstanding details but its age just doesn't jive with the blade. Either it is new or highly cleaned. The bone appears very recent, was possibly born with the remainder of the hilt(metal parts), but shows no patination that bone that had any degree of handling or age would. The crude-ish carving of the bone doesn't really match the quality of the metal portions of the hilt. The scabbard appears to be the wooden remains of fine tooled leather scabbard. Looks like the leather has been stripped and the wood laid bare. When/if this was originally covered by a thin layer of hide it would have looked very impressive and really highlighted the carving. I think it is very likely this is a good old blade and worn scabbard refitted with a new hilt. The scabbard and blade match up age-wise....the hilt simply does not. I believe your sword's hilt is an attempt to imitate this: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=nimcha Last edited by CharlesS; 29th December 2013 at 05:16 PM.