[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

You are of course entitled to your opinion as to where these originated, but it would be useful to have some hard evidence as backup. None of these are tourist items. They all predate tourism as we know it.
The only blade shown here which is Ethiopian is #2 which is discussed above as maybe being reshaped. This is the only one which would MAYBE fit with your comment that originally it had a Rhino hilt.

Salaams Khanjar 1. I agree that hard evidence is worth observing when it exists. In this case the souk chain between Ethiopia and Yemen (Sanaa) and Salalah and Muttrah are well documented as being linked. Sanaa now, because of the war ...has no tourists... trades blades onward up the chain in huge consignments. These are first stripped of their rhino hilts and either refitted with backyard hilts as at #2 or are simply traded en masse on to Muttrah/Salalah. Something similar happens the other way between India and Sharjah souk with Tulvar blades....Muttrah fits the blades up with other hilts often extending the tangs to enable Omani Long Hilts to be fitted. Any other suitable looking hilts are thrown together with whatever spare blades are deemed potentially pass offable to gullible tourists passing through.

That was the reason why I wanted to show the Ethiopian hilts in my last post in their original form...

Thousands of such mixtures have been put together and sold there since 1970. So many have been offloaded to the worlds unsuspecting tourists that they almost form a sword type in their own right...The Muttrah!!.

Some are cleverly put together and certain museums in the area have been sold what appear to be genuine Portuguese 16th C Swords when in fact they are not. Oddly they are not technically fakes... a word many people don't like to use ...understandably... and since they are original fighting blades often European trade blades sent to Ethiopia... it takes some sorting out. However original swords they are certainly not...as the attempt is to pass them off for something else... So they are technically fighting blades re-hilted traded played with and manipulated for a better price and but for the fighting blades they are by any stretch of the imagination fake... or should I say faked...? clearly a better use of the word....and in an effort to sell...gain a better price... fitted up with hilts they were never associated with before.

Or as one tourist is said to have exclaimed.."Well if that isn't a fake its a damned good copy of one" !!

Come to Muttrah and see the hundreds of imported Ethiopian blades and visit the workshops that they are played with in... Sanaa did something similar by joining rough iron hilts made in basic workshops having stripped off the Rhino Hilts usually for Jambias... but because the souk there is largely defunct these re-hilts also get shipped into Muttrah.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.