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Originally Posted by SwordsAntiqueWeapons
Thank you for your offer.
At this point, I must ask, why would a souk worker take a perfectly good complete with scabbrd antique flexible dance sword from antiquity, with wonderful culturally important fittings, design and artistry and history and being culturally important itself in its complete form, then remove the blade, then somehow fit a thicker fighting type blade in to a scabbard meant for its thinner brother, join the hilt in some manner that does not in any way disturb one ounce of age and patina and sell it as a [????] to tourists....seems rather odd that Omani Souk owners are destroying cultural heritage in an exercise of wasted time and resources when it would be just as easy to sell the original sword...Then what happens to the flexible blade? Does it then get dressed in modern leather, steel and silver of which I only see a couple of in the photos compared to the dozens and dozens of what I'd call beaters in the rest of the photos....
Gavin
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Salaams SwordsAntiqueWeapons,
In answer to your souk worker question ~I have no idea.. but I think you are arriving at the finished product in the wrong way. Here is how it worked;
1. Blade arrives from Yeman (Sanaa) to souk Muscat circa 1970 or after (not before as there weren't any tourists to speak of before that)
2. Souk shop transfers blade to workshops.
Blade is fitted up, tang extended, and long hilt fitted. .
3. Scabbard is tooled up to suit... including as you point out quite excellent furniture hand tooled leather and silver where required. Page 454 of Richardson and Dorr has metalwork such as yours you showed me on e mail..
What you now have is a non flexible Red Sea Blade on an Omani Long Handle heavily camouflaged and looking every inch an Omani Sword which it is not. Sold to a Tourist... and thus can turn up worldwide in this very confusing guise.
I have to say that you are not the first specialist in swords to have been misled by the Swords of Oman. Many 19TH C visitors made similar mistakes which because of the written word have become concreted in as fact when they aren't true at all.. viz;
1878 Mr Geary, Times of India...Muscat ..Quote" A favourite weapon is a straight broad two handed sword; the sweep of which would take off a mans thigh or even cut him in two at the waist. The swordsmen carried over their shoulders small round shields of Rhinosceros hide 8 or 9 inches in diameter. The Arabs of these parts are very formidable swordsmen." Unquote.
James Wellstead visit to tribesmen Jalaan Bani Bu Ali 1835 Quote" The whole of the tribe... of about 250 men assembled for the purpose of exhibiting their dance. They had formed a circle within 5 or 6 of their number now entered. After walking leisurely around for some time, each challenged one of the spectators by striking him gently with the flat of his sword. His adversary immediately leapt forth and feigned combat ensued. They have but two cuts, one directly downwards at the head, and the other horizontally across the legs. They parry each other neither with sword nor shields but avoid the blows by leaping and bounding backwards. The blade of their sword is 3 feet in length, straqight thin double edged and as sharp as a razor''. Unquote.
What Wellstead didnt mention because he probably didn't know... is that there is but one point in the scoring system awarded if the thumb of the shield hand is touched by the flat tip of the oponents sword ... game over.
He also failed to notice that the weapon was not in fact a weapon but a dancing and pageant sword only and since the
Mimic Fight is in fact an important part of
the pageant The...Hooplah!!...Hey Presto!!...A pageantry Sword. (Pageant = Traditions = The Funoon.)
There are plenty other examples of mistaken identity and it is interesting to see it perpetrated today and in this case by a reasonably recent sword format fetched in by trade and rehilted by enterprising workshops.
Like always ... I am quite prepared to leave the door open for logical arguement and for anyone to dive in and start researching the issue. I continue to search always on the lookout for twists and turns in the story and always ready to re-assess my findings. To date I have seen no evidence to illustrate another avenue on these sword rebuilds but as always I am ready to listen and will follow up on leads which are sensible and constructive. Tilting at Windmills, however, ...I've done that and do not intend to repeat the experience !
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.