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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
Nice example which I recall from a couple of years ago. These swords from Yemen seem to, in my opinion, be ersatz weapons which were refurbished for tribal use in these regions during the considerable strife and conflicts there since after WWI. I am not nearly well versed enough in Arabian history to describe these complex events, but do know that many types of these hilts on varying blades out of Red Sea trade regions exist. The interpretation of the 'karabela' style hilt was much favored in these Arabian regions and I cannot recall the term which Ibrahiim noted they were called by.
The blade on this one appears to be of the form often occurring in regions of the Sudan in the last quarter of the 19th c. possibly slightly earlier, and are often attributed to the Solingen maker Clauberg, though certainly not necessarily all of them are. The same type blades have been seen on the Omani 'kattara' of the form now revealed to be ceremonial swords or merchants dress swords of Muscat.
These centrally fullered blades seem to have interpretations of certain European markings such as the cross and orb, as well as these crescent moon and star grouping. This particular moon and stars mark was used by the Schnitzler & Kirshbaum makers of Solingen in variation on trade cutlass blades from about mid 19th century well into probably late 19th. Just as many of the cross and orb interpretations reflect variation by native artisans the configuration of these moon and stars does as well.
Some of the so called 'Zanzibar nimchas' have blades with similar marks,and I would point out that these type swords are among those which seem to have been brought to Yemen during these troublesome events and insurgencies. The cutlass blade types of these karabela hilt examples have the same profile and these kinds of marks seen on this one.
Good example of a tribal fighting sword which may have seen long use well into the 20th century, and I think excellent representation of just how long the sword saw, and very much continues to see use in many ethnographic regions.
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Salaams Jim ~ I recall seeing this one before as you note... and then it had more of the description Karabela. I used to think they resembled Falcon Heads and I had stuck that description on them "willy nilly" rather than as an historical fact. I seem to agree that the moon and stars are local marks. I think the blade is a good one perhaps from Hadramaut? This is one of the blades that inspired me to suggest a link further up the Red Sea even as a spill over from the Mamlukes or Constantinople style. There are very clear links to the hilt type in Turkish "karabela" swords are there not? This was well fielded by Ariel not so long ago.
The blade looks fairly stiff and not of the Omani dancing type...a subject I am still piecing together following months of research which pretty well got me nowhere in the Muscat arena.... except to say that I now have firm date evidence and reason for the whole Omani dancing sword concept... but thats for another thread later...
This sword hilt style in fact appears in Buttin... under a Zanzibari style. See
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=nimcha Buttin # 26 Plate XXX 1007 and 1008.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.