Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Bob A · 25th February 2017, 04:47 AM

Christie's catalogue description of the Lawrence jambiya, and price realised:

Lot 47
SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ARAB JAMBIYA DAGGER. Ornately-tooled hilt and scabbard, curved blade. 30cm long.

Price realised GBP 122,500
USD 191,713

Estimate GBP 60,000 - GBP 90,000
(USD 92,700 - USD 139,050)
Change Currency
Add to Interests

SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ARAB JAMBIYA DAGGER. Ornately-tooled hilt and scabbard, curved blade. 30cm long.

Exhibition history: National Portrait Gallery, 1988-89, no. 128, see the accompanying catalogue: Jeremy Wilson, T.E. Lawrence (National Portrait Gallery Publications, London, 1988), p.88; Imperial War Museum, 2005-6.

A MAGNIFICENT SILVER-GILT DAGGER, PRESENTED TO LAWRENCE AFTER HIS TRIUMPH AT AQABA BY SHERIF NASIR. Returning to Cairo in July 1917 from the coup de main against Aqaba that would forever gild his reputation as the daring hero of Arabia, Lawrence found himself ‘daggerless and near naked’, as he would write to Lionel Curtis over a decade later. Sherif Abdullah, elder brother of Feisal and future ruler of the Transjordan, had presented Lawrence with his first dagger of silver gilt in Wadi Ais; from then on, a dagger belted onto the waistband of the flowing Arab robes he quickly adopted in the desert was to be a near-constant presence for the duration of the war. His letter to Curtis, of the 22 February 1929, detailed the three cherished blades he had owned; his first dagger he presented as a gift to the Howeitat chiefs in the Wadi Sirhan at the urging of Sherif Nasir – cousin of Feisal and Abdullah, who commanded the expedition alongside Lawrence and Abu ibu Tayi – an investment lavishly rewarded by the support of the Bedouin in the assault on Aqaba. Returning triumphant, anxious for a replacement, Lawrence travelled quickly to Jidda and then returned to Aqaba, where Nasir presented him with the present dagger, an honorific gift. Referred to in his letter as ‘Dagger III’, for he had taken advantage of his time in Jidda to commission another – small, gold – dagger to be made in Mecca (‘Dagger II’), he lamented its loss – as one of only ‘two daggers being still alive’ – after leaving it with Kathleen Scott, and continued: ‘I will try and see Lady Hilton Young [her married name] and ask tactfully if she thinks the silver one is hers or not’. Lawrence’s small gold dagger having been sold to Curtis for £125, and subsequently presented to All Souls’ College, Oxford, the present dagger – richly ornate and weighty both in physicality and historical significance – represents THE LAST OF LAWRENCE’S ARABIAN DAGGERS KNOWN TO SURVIVE IN PRIVATE HANDS.

25th February 2017, 04:47 AM	#3
Bob A Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 413	Christie's catalogue description of the Lawrence jambiya, and price realised: Lot 47 SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ARAB JAMBIYA DAGGER. Ornately-tooled hilt and scabbard, curved blade. 30cm long. Price realised GBP 122,500 USD 191,713 Estimate GBP 60,000 - GBP 90,000 (USD 92,700 - USD 139,050) Change Currency Add to Interests SILVER-GILT MOUNTED ARAB JAMBIYA DAGGER. Ornately-tooled hilt and scabbard, curved blade. 30cm long. Exhibition history: National Portrait Gallery, 1988-89, no. 128, see the accompanying catalogue: Jeremy Wilson, T.E. Lawrence (National Portrait Gallery Publications, London, 1988), p.88; Imperial War Museum, 2005-6. A MAGNIFICENT SILVER-GILT DAGGER, PRESENTED TO LAWRENCE AFTER HIS TRIUMPH AT AQABA BY SHERIF NASIR. Returning to Cairo in July 1917 from the coup de main against Aqaba that would forever gild his reputation as the daring hero of Arabia, Lawrence found himself ‘daggerless and near naked’, as he would write to Lionel Curtis over a decade later. Sherif Abdullah, elder brother of Feisal and future ruler of the Transjordan, had presented Lawrence with his first dagger of silver gilt in Wadi Ais; from then on, a dagger belted onto the waistband of the flowing Arab robes he quickly adopted in the desert was to be a near-constant presence for the duration of the war. His letter to Curtis, of the 22 February 1929, detailed the three cherished blades he had owned; his first dagger he presented as a gift to the Howeitat chiefs in the Wadi Sirhan at the urging of Sherif Nasir – cousin of Feisal and Abdullah, who commanded the expedition alongside Lawrence and Abu ibu Tayi – an investment lavishly rewarded by the support of the Bedouin in the assault on Aqaba. Returning triumphant, anxious for a replacement, Lawrence travelled quickly to Jidda and then returned to Aqaba, where Nasir presented him with the present dagger, an honorific gift. Referred to in his letter as ‘Dagger III’, for he had taken advantage of his time in Jidda to commission another – small, gold – dagger to be made in Mecca (‘Dagger II’), he lamented its loss – as one of only ‘two daggers being still alive’ – after leaving it with Kathleen Scott, and continued: ‘I will try and see Lady Hilton Young [her married name] and ask tactfully if she thinks the silver one is hers or not’. Lawrence’s small gold dagger having been sold to Curtis for £125, and subsequently presented to All Souls’ College, Oxford, the present dagger – richly ornate and weighty both in physicality and historical significance – represents THE LAST OF LAWRENCE’S ARABIAN DAGGERS KNOWN TO SURVIVE IN PRIVATE HANDS.