Bedouin Sword for Discussion

[TribalBlades]

I personally believe there is no such thing as a Bedouin Sword (except the Omani / Yemeni Kattara and the Saif). Bedu hardly used Swords for warfare. It is mostly used for dancing. They almost always relied on Rifles and Guns. (except perhaps swords that date from before the arrival of the british and other colonizing forces).

[A.alnakkas]

Originally Posted by TribalBlades

I personally believe there is no such thing as a Bedouin Sword (except the Omani / Yemeni Kattara and the Saif). Bedu hardly used Swords for warfare. They almost always relied on Rifles and Guns. (except perhaps swords that date from before the arrival of the british and other colonizing forces).

aaaand thats wrong :-) the saif is well used by bedouin communities (well not as much as spears..) but they are there and there are particular styles but one thing noticed is that they rarely make any blades and most of the fittings are actually done in cities. This has to do with the bedouin tradition and mentality which looks upon physical work as some sort of insult.

As for the sword with Stu. I originally owned this one and there are honest sign of wear on the fittings of the blade. Things that are very difficult (and pointless to make) to do so it doesnt seem right that these were made to sell to tourists. The blade is nice, thick and I remember it was sharpened. The blade was thicker then any of my wootz shamshirs and was alittle less thick then a European blade on a nimcha (which I sold along with this one) so its a serious blade and the mounts were holding strong on it. The wood of the scabbard had signs of wear near the throat so is the leather there. as you can see, the bronze (?) lines on the top of the scabbard have losses that are done due to loss with time I doubt people selling to tourist will have so much interest in details or a need to actually do such damage.

Stuff made for tourists generally contain lots of 'flash' and go for the cheapest and quickest material available and rarely have signs of wear. Keep in mind that the said Yemenis who supposedly produce these are also producing the jambiyas we see in the tourist market, how many do you see which are deliberately made to look older? rarely if ever done purposefully.

Ibrahim is correct on one thing which I ignored as a variation before, while I find some of these with the one similar to Stu's I also find ones with slim blades and scabbards that look very new. One of the interesting things about those is that they are often precieved as ugly and rarely ever sell to anyone so am not sure how they classify as tourist items.

included are photos of the saif pre restoration.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by TribalBlades

I personally believe there is no such thing as a Bedouin Sword (except the Omani / Yemeni Kattara and the Saif). Bedu hardly used Swords for warfare. It is mostly used for dancing. They almost always relied on Rifles and Guns. (except perhaps swords that date from before the arrival of the british and other colonizing forces).

Salaams Tribal Blades.. Im afraid thats not the case ~ I understand the sentiment since you must have seen the state of what the Bedouin are now like with 4 wheel drives galore and seemingly not much antiquity left at all...but they did carry swords and they used them on occasions on raids and fights. No doubt they were also a badge of office too...as as you say for pageants, weddings and dancing.. but as you intimate swords fell out of fashion as rifles fell in. I have a record of sword battles circa 1900 in the what is now UAE... and there are lots of pictures of Bedouin with swords.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams Tribal Blades.. Im afraid thats not the case ~ I understand the sentiment since you must have seen the state of what the Bedouin are now like with 4 wheel drives galore and seemingly not much antiquity left at all...but they did carry swords and they used them on occasions on raids and fights. No doubt they were also a badge of office too...as as you say for pageants, weddings and dancing.. but as you intimate swords fell out of fashion as rifles fell in. I have a record of sword battles circa 1900 in the what is now UAE... and there are lots of pictures of Bedouin with swords.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Here is one such example in use that Artzi shared some time back.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14012

Many others are available with a google image search.

In 1935 Richard Halliburton mentions curved swords drawn when talking of Ibn Saud and his "four scarlet-uniformed black Giants" at the tents entrance.

Gavin

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by freebooter

Here is one such example in use that Artzi shared some time back.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14012

Many others are available with a google image search.

In 1935 Richard Halliburton mentions curved swords drawn when talking of Ibn Saud and his "four scarlet-uniformed black Giants" at the tents entrance.

Gavin

Salaams freebooter ~ Yes great picture...Must say is that other reference the famous Burton or the lesser known Halliburton or the even less well known Hali-walli-Burton?

I need to try and get an angle on the precise dates of the appearance of the swords at # 1 ~ I assume they appeared post 1948 but began turning up in Muscat main souk (Mutrah) after 1970. I have a few swords with hilts in the basic leather over wood arrangement which were reformatted from this type in Mutrah see pictures below..which turned up in similar garb to the project sword at #1. It would be easy to assume that these are swashbuckling dhow weapons or used by the Omani Bedouin... as they look authentic. Who knows maybe they did use these or something similar?

However sharp and handy these swords appear to be I believe we need to cut a swathe through the myths as they appear. I did it with the straight dancing swords and I will do it with others as they front up.
Its a real shame that Yemen is closed to a visit or else I would go down and bang on the door of a few Sanaa merchants and get some pictures.

Pictures show two blades, the wider with a very meaty feel, European, inscribed at the throat with the sword in tunic arm/hand and the other probably local Arabian, both imported from Yemen, disassembled and remounted on falcon head Omani styles and described as Dhow swords... and given fresh Omani scabbards.

"Tongue in cheek" springs to mind...

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[A.alnakkas]

Salam Ibrahim,

Its interesting to know that saifs such as Stu's have been dismounted and refitted as 'Omani falcon head' the blades are certainly real enough to deserve. A remount but I am interested in this supposed Omani falcon head style as I only saw them coming out of your workshop. At first I thought them to be Yemeni karabelas with their hilts covered perhaps to attract Omani buyers and to give them an Omani feel but perhaps you can tell us more about them.

[kahnjar1]

I agree with Lofty. These have appeared on Ibrahiims website, and in fact are still listed for sale there. Just a further attempt at ill covered commercialism?? How much longer do we have to put up with this when others are struck off for less?

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

Salam Ibrahim,

Its interesting to know that saifs such as Stu's have been dismounted and refitted as 'Omani falcon head' the blades are certainly real enough to deserve. A remount but I am interested in this supposed Omani falcon head style as I only saw them coming out of your workshop. At first I thought them to be Yemeni karabelas with their hilts covered perhaps to attract Omani buyers and to give them an Omani feel but perhaps you can tell us more about them.

[A.alnakkas]

The blade on one of Ibrahim's 'karabelas' have one that looks identical to the ardha blades made recently in Saudi Arabia. The armoured figure is almost identical (imitation of clauberg) I have done some research on these and had one before:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14020

The blade is generally slim but can be thick. The shallow 3 fullers are identical but it seems that Ibrahim's karabela is aged to look old. These are not touristy but made for ardha dance in alTaif :-)