European Piha Kaetta

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by ariel

Folks, I think the opinions went in the opposite directions, but the courses were parallel so that we could never reach a common destination

The French "piha" was not intended to be a weapon: it was made as an object of art after the fashion of an exotic Sinhalese knife. It could have been used as a letter opener, no more. ( And, BTW, the original Pihas were also not weapons, but rather utility knives; the tasks of the two examples were similar but somewhat different).

We just cannot judge the French example on the basis of its fighting capabilities, and there are plenty of examples among our traditional " sharpies".

Javanese kerises lost their fighting function long ago, with the exception of rare cases of domestic violence, for which purpose the French Piha would also do swimmingly. Still, there are people who collect kerises for their technologically useless pamor patterns, exotic wood, carvings etc. Most of the daggers in the new Robert Hales' book were never drawn in anger, they were just expensive baubles. We have heard from one of the members that the ferocious Omani kattaras were in fact just dancing props. The "golden age" of Caucasian kindjals came well after they outlived their fighting purpose and became a part of the costume, akin to the pocket watch with a thick golden chain.

The French Pihas ( thanks, Artzi, for providing the justification to use the plural :-)) are just nice artistic renditions. Any Piha collector would love to add them to his bunch of the "real stuff" with no fear of being called a sissy.

Just relax, there is no sense going ballistic because some Frenchie made a pretty paperweight:-)

Salaams Ariel, Do you still have your old Omani Battle Sword? They(the original form) are from even earlier than we thought and the suggestion is nearer 600.AD. By the way its not the curved Kattara which is the dancer... its the straight flexible OMANI Sayf..1744AD. In addition it is safer to consider that weapon as a badge of office rather than simply relegate it to the dancing prop. It is an heraldic item in praise of an entire Dynasty- not only for dancing.
In so far as this thread I see no comparison in linking it to cheap copies since it is clearly stamped and with a full European provenance. It is simply a project piece. It is hardly comparable to the excellent workmanship on the original so I am a little surprised that it passed muster when a better more expert effort could have been made.. The French made superb quality Koummya for example.. Quite often workshops take on a design but provided they are honest about it and stamp it correctly it simply enters the fold as that... and is indeed part of the ethnographic story. Many copies (unstamped ) were knocked up in western workshops of Sri-Lankan swords for belly dancing and Up the Khyber Martini Henry copies were being turned out regularly.
In this case we have a single stamped Piha Kheta; which is what it is; A project item.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.