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Originally Posted by Kubur
Hello
What do you think about this kattara or seif from Oman??
What about the stamps on the blade, solingen, passau??
Do you have a date? 19 or 18th c.??
Please Ibrahim, no cold shower like with the khanjar!!
Thanks
Regards
Kubur |
Salaams Kubur... Now this is a different quality altogether...The Omani Dancing Sword.. Mistakenly believed by many to have been used for fighting. ...Not so. This is a pageantry and dancing...wedding and special events like the religious festivals at both Eids annually... and for praising the ruling dynasty...Thus its dateable appearance can be more or less defined.
Essentially the flexibility of the sword is of paramount importance... If its not flexible its not a dancer... and since there is no such fighting straight arrangement logically no straight variant in this style ever existed. In real terms the description here is Saif or Sayf with the term Kattara being reserved for the curved variant though occasionally there is another curved known internationally as Shamshir but here also called Kattara..occasionally. I have to say also that people here use the generic word Sayf or saif meaning sword ... and I hope that is not confusing...but I know it is !
On this blade which if it is showing a single fuller from the grip to the tip it would be termed a Sayf Abu Falaj ...(the one with the channel) which although Falaj is a term for a man made water course... in this it suggests a blood groove which it isnt... In fact it simply gives added flex and less weight.
The squigles on the blade could be talismanic, however, Im not sure what it is meant to illustrate...A geometric sequence? or it could be after the Passau Wolf sometimes copied onto these blades... but think only of this blade as reminiscent or reflective of the old battle sword in that it was two edged and round tipped.... and used in pageants in honour of the forefathers who actually used the original Battle weapon...
The Sayf Yamaani.
Ariel ... Would I go into a diatribe about this dancer?...No... but 2 million Omani People probably would.
Please see The Omani Sayf...at Forum Library.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=omani+sayf
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.