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Originally Posted by Atlantia
Namaste Ibrahiim,
These are commonplace items across the middle east, how (beyond identifying the maker) would you attribute THIS Dallah to Syria and not say: Saudi, Egypt or elsewhere? It doesn't seem to have any of the distinct variations that would pin it?
These came back to the UK in a fairly constant flow after the war up to and into the 1970s (possibly with a small supply of 'gulf expresso' that soldiers, oil workers and tourists had developed a 'taste for' while in that area as these usually look used!). I imagine NZ was the same. By the latter part of the last century, those coming back tended to be 'lesser' examples. Smaller, lighter often more decorative, minus the filled lid etc and not intended for actual use.
Also of course, Stu's seems to have proper 'patina' in the receses that suggests an age of more than a decade or two. Even with coffe stains taken into account 
God knows you could repair tarmac with that stuff!
Regards
Gene |
Salaams Atlantia ~ I love coffee pots ! There is something very pleasing about the simple shape..and with the long beak spout they take on a character all of their own. My own collection numbers several score. The best ones I ever owned were sent to me by a friend of mine who found them in a famous English souk ! both were signed by the maker in 1912 in Nizwa! Telling the difference is not easy as these days styles are copied all over the place and Pakistani Syrian Yemeni Saudia ... The list goes on ... It is quite difficult to pinpoint. The most difficult engineering is the lid which should be fluted like the body. Original pots are made from one flat sheet of metal be that copper brass or even silver... They are built from the ground up. To protect from verdigris poison (mold that grows on brass) the pots are tinned(tin drenched) sometimes all over inside and out but normally just the inside in the old days this was a Z'tooti ~Gypsi occupation)
Some regional pots have distinct flat tops others more pointed and there is a different more sophisticated shape for a serving pot rather than the pot that goes in the fire to cook up the brew...
Pictures are jumbled but descriptions make obvious..
* Shows regional variation fat tall thin wide etc etc now copied almost everywhere ..
* Syrian pots..3 small brass Pots; new but in the right style and with wrapped handles.
* Omani . 3 Omani Pots. The classic style with swept body and lid..finials to a point. The lid would contain small pebbles to alert the owner that the coffee was being tampered with. The favourite method of poison in the coffee being the major way of eliminating an oponent.
* The original "pot" coffee pot from Oman ~ round bottom red clay sits in the fire embers and is strained of residue with palm leaves stuffed into the top... and sits on its own round seat made of palm leaves/reed.
* Map of souks in the region far and wide and interlinkages.
* Accoutrements to the coffee pot... pan and stirrer, spoons, mortar and pesstle...
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.