Thanks Jim ~ Good questions and I agree it is a bit puzzling. Of the 11 different regions in Oman they can all sport some of the same design variables as the next region which must be slightly confusing when a researcher is trying to nail a style. I often refer back to the website
http://khanjar.om/Types.html which probably serves half the equation and has a most useful regional map of Oman and distinctive regional differences and similarities.
Time has dictated that a silversmith in any of the northern regions can produce any of the 10 /11 variable styles from any of the regions and that further difficult original locating is made worse when a style is mixed. the book says that Nizwa for example produces the largest khanjars yet I have seen huge daggers from the baatinah coast and from a separate entity around Bahla a giant thing twice as big as any khanjar worn by a giant. The man was 80 plus years old and he was a true giant over 7 feet tall with hands like three mens but these are examples of one offs...and there are more of those … and even 8 and nine ringers! then the variables from the UAE sometrimes impossible to separate from Dhakiliyya Khanjars next door ….but I digress..
The incredible appearance of the facts surrounding the Giraffe horn
The horn from the male African Giraffe is quite substantial although it is not so translucent as the Rhino ...in fact it is quite dark..though its colour can vary from dark to greenish...its not translucent but has excellent acceptance of silver nails and is used on both normal 4 ringers and on Royal khanjars. It is however an endangered species thus ought to be avoided although old giraffe may be acceptable it certainly is not to me.
What I think are excellent hilts are the hardwoods such as
Sandalwood which I am about to show on site and this other
bitter orange which I must track down since as a south Asian wood I am absolutely certain it is one of those old traded hardwood varieties that must be brought to the table for recognition and as a replacement hilt for these endangered animals.
On Fils (Ivory) the first big assault was on Ivory was from the USA !! in the shape of billiard balls and piano keys. Indeed it was done via an American shipping company operating direct from Zanzibar at the time of Saiid The Great.
The whats in a word angle goes wild here when the old Arabic words get used>>>>Zraf Hindi means Indian Giraffe and even the term for old replacement Yemeni Jambia hilts on Omani work>>>Zraf Yemeni... and the use of Hasheb Norang for bitter orange wood which I still have not traced. The name in Arabic for Rhino horn is also odd>>Zraf Afrique.. AFRICAN GIRAFFE
