Odd Sword

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

In looking at my reference thus staying on Benidictus style script I see the letters again could be interesting ..

M 51 DD M

The Book of Revelation is often referred to as 51... So are we off to a reasonable set of meaningful code?

In suggesting Portuguese origin of blade form at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showt...rtuguese+swords it could of course point to another source as actual blade manufacture; Solingen. This would suggest the religious nature of the blade marks as being in line with the reference above at http://www.academia.edu/13386318/TH...ol._10_pp._9-20

Could the DD indicate In Nomini Domini or perhaps Dominus Deus? http://www.academia.edu/13386318/TH....10_pp._9-20and the two outer M shapes be some sort of decorative introduction or brackets?

This weapon is indeed interesting as an Ethnographic example whereby an old blade has been given a mixed cloak namely the Solomon star decoration and the added extension of extra tang and Pommel of an Omani Dancing Sword. The blade appears much older than the Pommel which is from a distinctive 19thC Dancing Sword style. I have shown in a previous post how this is achieved and particularly in the souk workshops of Muttrah where it is common practice. It should be noted that in the case of Omani Dancing Swords a weak point caused by vibration is about half way up the tang...Omani Dancers are made with tang and pommel and blade in one piece and it may be observed that the curved Omani Kattara is not so it has to have a tang extension and pommel added to every weapon...

I digress... however, it is the tang and Pommel which brings the entire weapon to the table from the Ethnographic viewpoint. Decoration to the Pommel is superb following the Solomon style star but I have never seen it before on a Pommel.

By way of a correction it may be seen that the initial and final letters are not the M letter but the old fashioned way of presenting the letter A