Teo and Lofty thank you so much!!!
While my ideas were admittedly wild speculation as far as linking my examples to this rather esoteric sector of piracy (the raconteur in me could not resist).....it is wonderful to have definitive attribution to these.
Though the examples I have cannot be linked to these regions as I had hoped, I think the topic itself deserved further pursuit. As always in research, often one door closing simply means others to open.
It does seem Yemen carries the recognition as a primary source for the wider range of sword types in the collective of Arabian forms, with of course the Omani examples having their own distinction. The sa'if I pictured in the last photo is one of the types in the so called 'nimcha' genre, and with the ring guard typically has been classified as 'Zanzibar' type.
In Buttin (1933) these, along with the other similar types are collectively termed sa'if, without further specification. I have often wondered if these sword types have had colloquial terms used locally for them (beyond the 'collectors' terms widely used in references).
This example when I acquired it about 20 years ago was said to have been part of a number (about 40) swords found in an old arsenal in Yemen, and these examples (mostly with ring guards) were said to have come from Zanzibar (hence the term applied).
I think the thing with identifying swords in the context of piracy itself is pretty much futile in most cases,as naturally, these groups operated largely independently and would use whatever weapons available. With that being the case, of course any number of weapon forms might have been taken in their 'activities' thus there was likely quite a range of possibilities.
It seems likely that individual anomalies might have filtered in with those instances, but as you note Lofty, the forms through regular trade channels into the Qawasim sphere would seem be most familiarly present.
I look forward to those images!
Guys thank you again! I hope the topic itself can keep going here......my curiosity is totally piqued in looking further into the swords which indeed might have been used in these regions by pirates.
While the Qawasim leaders seem to have been established as wearing the standard Omani sa'if (commonly termed kattara in collectors parlance) with the open cylindrical type guard, the other forms noted would be interesting to see as well.
|