My first Nimcha

[Jim McDougall]

It seems there has long been a great deal of confusion on the 'nimcha'.
Setting aside the misnomer of the term itself, the classifications as to where the forms might be attributed has been baffling.

It does seem that the most familiar type without the ring on the guard is typically regarded as Moroccan. However Stone (1934) if I recall, does refer to these as Algerian. It seems that the attribution was based possibly on the broader association with the Malakite rite (if I recall) school of Islam? which transcended Algerian and Moroccan borders of course.

This example of 'ring guard' nimcha I acquired from Artzi about 24 years ago and it was said to be of a batch of 40 varied examples from an armory in Yemen some years before. Then he had noted these had been mounted in Zanzibar and to supply Yemeni forces during the various conflicts years before.
I believe I saw this attribution in the book by Alain Jacob (1985) as well.

In Buttin (1933) of course no such attribution to Zanzibar or specifically to Morocco or Algeria is made, only that these are ARAB sabers.

So if I understand, it appears that my example would be Algerian?
Though I know that there are nimchas attributable to Zanzibar, this ring guard feature appears to not be a factor.

The last image is a Moroccan sa'if (Moroccan markings at forte).

PS.....anyone know where I might find a copy of Eric Claudes book????