I also thank Michael for keeping the Yemeni jambiya dream alive in the forum.
The Niebuhr jambiya is certainly a classic due to the ability to acurately date it. However I'm sure there are other and even earlier examples but the difficulty is finding a date. I have never found a rhino horn hilted dagger with a date - but sometimes you can find dated silver hilts or scabbards.
I have just been examining two old niello Yemeni silver scabbards I have. Now both were sold together and both have the same stamps on the back of the scabbards. The niello work is pretty crude and as you can see one scabbard is wreckage only - it appears to have been weaken by the niello decoration.
However the stamps are early marks in the kings name - god be with him - and probably also had the silver purity. I am also told by an academic in Yemen there is a date on the wreckage scabbard of 1177 (being about 1763).
So I think they are of interest.
Michael, with regards the Travels of Ibn Battuta, I have a copy translated by Gibb but it is only selections. I am interested in the selections you quote as to whether Battuta makes a description of the jambiya being curved or just as being a dagger???
Thanks,
steve
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