Salaams all... Whilst rumbling about in Library I was inspired to look for relative design style of the Zanzibar Nimcha hilt decoration...and in trying to identify Zanzibar as the manufactuiring base for such items...This of course is very difficult and readers are cautioned that the entire African coastal strip on mainland Africa in that region was called Zanj. Personally I suspect that other Nimcha sword forms originated in the Zanj (perhaps I will expend on that theory later) however,
for now the intriguing design to an Ivory "Zanzibari" Comb bearing the same style as the hilt of the Zanzibari Nimcha shown ... from
http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/65.html
There are many Nimcha references on Library e.g
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=nimcha from which the sword below is borrowed.
For Interest I also show the Buttin page.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.