To the left of the central display there are also more swords, and quite possibly the most interesting/important ones. There is one sword with a tortoise shell and silver hilt, belonging to a group of swords in the Met, the Hofburg, the Real Armeria and of course, the de Ruyter sword in the Rijksmuseum. These were collected all sometime in the mid 16th century, so this one is easy to date, and quite pretty. Note also the similarities in general shape to excellent nimcha Charles shared with us. There are two more nimchas next to that one,among them a yatghan-style hilted one with ivory scales and a brass bolster.
Furhter to the lower left, there are three very intriguing swords. One of them has a D-ring. This feature is usually associated with swords from Southern Arabia, Zanzibar and the Komoros, but there is no doubt this sword was collected in the Mediterranean and one occasionally finds such D-rings on Maghrebi nimchas. Note the straighter blade on this one and the crescent and star markings. There are two more swords next to the D-ring one: a sword with a fullered curved blade, and another sword with a great 16th century Mameluke blade: hard to see under all the dirt and rust, but all the characteristics of Mameluke blades are there. This is obviously not the original hilt of this blade, and sadly as of right now we have no way of telling exactly when it was mounted that way.
Anyway, this concludes the Valetta nimcha tour, hope you enjoyed the pictures and maybe you would have seen interesting things I missed and would have some further insights as to these swords and their history.
Teodor
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