Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Emanuel · 8th June 2012, 05:52 AM

Hi there,

The strange handle can be seen on other flyssa/nimcha variants, and on some "Berber" sabres and shula/s'boula daggers as well.

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1362

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2002

Camille Lacoste Desjardins writes in her article "Sabres Kabyles" that these small flyssa-like daggers date post-1950 or so. Algiers and much of the hinterland was taken by the French in 1830, and in 1850 the French imposed a ban on weapon manufacture. Kabylia surrendered a few years alter in 1857. By then the large flyssa were no longer being made, but part of the industry continued for the smaller types, sought after by the new French colonists. While they were very well made with good blades and quality decoration, quality gradually went down until they essentially became the "wedding nimchas" with blades cut from sheet metal. I'm not sure exactly where this happened. It likely started with the Kabyle flyssa, then might have had a bit of a back and forth with Morocco. The shula/s'boula was probably an intermediary step.
This is conjecture though...Dom you may have a better sense of where the different types were available.

Emanuel

8th June 2012, 05:52 AM	#12
Emanuel Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,242	Hi there, The strange handle can be seen on other flyssa/nimcha variants, and on some "Berber" sabres and shula/s'boula daggers as well. http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1362 http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2002 Camille Lacoste Desjardins writes in her article "Sabres Kabyles" that these small flyssa-like daggers date post-1950 or so. Algiers and much of the hinterland was taken by the French in 1830, and in 1850 the French imposed a ban on weapon manufacture. Kabylia surrendered a few years alter in 1857. By then the large flyssa were no longer being made, but part of the industry continued for the smaller types, sought after by the new French colonists. While they were very well made with good blades and quality decoration, quality gradually went down until they essentially became the "wedding nimchas" with blades cut from sheet metal. I'm not sure exactly where this happened. It likely started with the Kabyle flyssa, then might have had a bit of a back and forth with Morocco. The shula/s'boula was probably an intermediary step. This is conjecture though...Dom you may have a better sense of where the different types were available. Emanuel