Yemeni Swords. In the Omani Market place.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Shukran jazilan ya Ustad !
Salaams Jim Once again thank you for your superb supporting research on these Arabian swords. I hope you were able to see the other Solingen blade which I thought said 1708 but which was inverted and actually reads SOLI followed by the very faint letters NGEN
The German blades for the Ethiopian market are indeed strange and we have examined them before... mine is almost the same as the one in the souk except with a Saudi / Mamluke hilt probably fitted up in the Yemen. Muscat has now also been identified (certainly in at least the last two generations) as being a centre for joining blade and hilt of different provenanced swords... especially long hilt Omani to any blade that looks reasonable... and the weld work and tang+pommel add on is there to be seen..and was confirmed as done by that shops workshop.

Your work is a great example ... I learn more from your input that from any library! What is a beacon for research is the way you set out your position with quotes from the best references and real in depth study combined with great common sense and reasoning. I hope it inspires more forum researchers to follow suit.

I wonder what influence there is in the Red Sea regions from the French in Egypt and the use of blades originally copied by them from the Polish Hussars?

Regards Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Ibrahiim , thank you so very much for such kind words! Actually the opportunity to learn is mostly mine as I try to discover as much as I can to respond to the fascinating queries on these pages.
Regarding the French influences in the Red Sea trade regions, while there was certainly some degree, it was largely outshone by the volume of German blades in particular entering various entrepots mostly through British trade venues. The 'hussar' blades from East European influences were primarily via trade from Styria and the Caucusus largely through Syria as well as of course other points of contact with Arab trade. I have seen many sabres with 'Hungarian' motifs that were clearly mounted in Syria, and have seen them actually misidentified as Hungarian hussar sabres.

Most of the French blades as far as I know were situated primarily in the Western Sudan, West Africa sphere and this is why the so called 'Manding' sabres seem to almost invariably have French sabre blades. These blades also reached further into the Sahara and Tuareg takoubas with these curved blades, a distinct anomaly, are classified as 'aljuinar'. There are of course instances of kaskara mounted with French blades or with French inscriptions in various incidental cases, but these were not regularly seen. I am sure that such instances occurred throughout the well travelled Red Sea routes.

Thank you again, and for keeping these discussions going strong.

All the best,
Jim