Kattara for comments

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by TVV

Ibrahim, even if we assume that unlike the rest of the area around it, from the Sudan through the rest of Arabia to India, which all imported and used European manufactured blades, Oman somehow remained an isolated oasis of local bladesmithing, I still have a major problem. We can agree that many of the markings were applied locally, but why would the RAK need to replicate European makers marks, unless those marks had become popular in Oman and perceived as a proof of quality? And how could Germand and Genoese makers marks become popular, unless such blades had been imported in huge quanitites?

That being said, I admire your quest for finding out more about the Omani kattara. If you have access to local archives from the 19th century, it would be interesting to dig for some info on what was being imported in Muscat during that time, and potentially even some info on the cost of European blank blades as opposed to what the RAK was charging for its production, as I have a strong suspicion that at one point it must have been very difficult for local smiths to compete with the European mass produced import in price (assuming similar quality of the production).

Regards,
Teodor

Salaams Teodor, Your questions are good and really make me think. ..First and foremost I am only considering Omani straight bladed (though I have curved Sayf blades that have clearly come through RAK workshops) Kattara from the so called new 17th C design which we are led to believe are European Trade Blades but which I suspect are home grown i.e. From Ras al Khaimah.

Blade Marks. You will see my last post with some RAK blade marks ; The Lion is Arabian and even has the arabic inscription on the underbelly. The "God is Great" stamp is clearly from here...The Taj Crown is India inspired from Queen Victoria. There is an odd Crown (Picture 6) but I believe that is simply an artist impression to illustrate the Ras al Khaimah (head of the tents idea). Moon and stars~ Arabic insignia. So, actually, so far no clear European Marks.

In addition I should point out that I have seen many Omani swords; Sayf and Kattara with no markings at all.

Perhaps somehow a shipper tied to the Nizwa inner circle fetched a shipload (Dhows in those days could handle 500 tons) of swords from somewhere and had the complete idea of blade replacement of an iconic religious sword dating to the beginning of Ibathi Islam? done overnight in one fell swoop in an atmosphere where coastal Oman was at loggerheads with the Interior ? In those days ?

I have just read a very difficult complex book "The French and The English in the Indian Ocean by Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Qassimi from circa 16th to 19thC. It is impossible to imagine trade flowing through Muscat to Nizwa from any of these nations as neither could, until the early 20th C, persuade Oman to even accept an Envoy in Muscat.

The transition from short battle sword to long flexible dancing sword must have originated in Nizwa; The heart of Ibathi Islam. I suggest that far from accepting 500 tons of swords in one hit (or several) that swords in the new form with blade tang and pommel drifted slowly into Nizwa and became fashionable and then sought after so that over several generations it became the sword of choice superceding eventually the short weapon retaining its name Kattara and absorbing the Terrs Shield as a fighting system. The transition could have taken 100 years.

Perhaps that is why there are many different Omani Kattara swords; some with one fuller, some with three, different stamps, many with no stamps, some with a hole in the pommel some not, many differently pommeled...big and small, long handled and medium long, blades not equally measured.. all pointing to a random cottage industry drip feed system rather than a massive industrial cargo load from Europe.

This drip feed of blades, I argue, came from Ras al Khaimah. It was on the Camel trade route from Nizwa via Buraimi up the waterhole line to the Gulf and Ras al Khaimah. There, I believe, are The Swordmakers of Oman; The Shihuh originally from Persia but now straddling the Oman UAE borders who it can be argued, have made Omani Swords for generations and who still do so today.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
P.S. As yet none of my team have been able to crack any of the museum archives but we are trying. If I discover a document outlining sword deliveries into Oman I will of course post the details to forum...