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Old 26th August 2015, 07:41 PM   #21
Ibrahiim al Balooshi
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE
Posts: 4,408
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Salaams Jim, Thank you for the excellent precis and update on these Nimchas...and for showing in detail the mistakes perpetrated by the various authors on these and associated weapons... Indeed it is a shock to discover in Burton the S'boula and the Omani dancing saif on the same page and noted by Burton in his "Book of Swords" as Zanzibari..!!

As you point out the gold and Ivory worked comb clue looks reasonable as pointing to Zanzibar on the subject of the fancy hilt at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=comb

I am sure that the original source of this style of sword is somewhere in the Mediterranean and its influence on Algerian and Moroccan variants is huge. Its style in the Malta museum is very much a ships cutlass style and it would be easy to see how a weapon like that became favoured in other Island situations such as Zanzibar.

The transition from Morocco / Mediterranean shores to Zanzibar is understandable either via Spanish or Portuguese explorers though I have not as yet seen a precise proof other than the fact of the sword itself !!...Certainly the Omani/Zanzibari VIP tradition of wearing the Ivory and Gold hilted style is known and seen at the same reference in the typical Omani Scabbard. It occurred to me that the more plain hilt was some sort of military issue probably Navy...but I still have no proof yet.
The story continues.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
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