Bedouin Sword for Discussion

[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 :-)

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by 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 :-)

Salaams A.alnakkas Yes to your previous post; it certainly is interesting. I personally don't make Falcon head hilts though I do have a few in stock. I like them. ...Falcon head or Hawkshead in fact, it was a term I think first coined by me to describe both the falcon head style emanating more likely in Turkish/Hungarian swords(Karabela) entering the Red Sea regions and what I thought were the derived more simple wooden hilts covered in leather made in centres like Mussandam and Muscat. The style almost lends itself to a ships cutlass type of weapon though I now think that may be more myth than fact. I like to attribute the Zanzibari Nimcha to that role.

The other long hilted slavers Kattara was certainly a weapon carried by the Omani slave captains and merchants and indeed VIPs.

I think a realisation needs to be applied to the phenomena of swords at #1 since people may be confused. The blades may indeed be real (I believe they are) What appears to have happenend is that enterprising souk merchants have cottoned on to the abundant supplies of blades which poured into Africa and Red Sea regions of Arabia and have matched every form of hilt and blade purely to move metal. I suggest that one of the pivottal date groups concerning Yemen may be the exodus of Jews period 1948 and into the mid 50s. I think this is the period that spawned the cheap and cheerful hilts seen at #1. The blades in many cases were real enough but had likely no place in any countries historical tradition outside of their European birthplace or peripheral. For this reason we observe Tulvar hilted Ethiopian (German) blades, Omani long hilted Nimcha conversions of the # 1 type blade and the straight down the line attempt to sell the cheap Yemeni hilted European short blades in all the souks previously mentioned. Upon this note it is purely the way the souks handle bulk shipments; some go direct to the shopfronts others go direct to workshops for remodelling ~ either way these blades end up going over the counter as tourist items here in the Omani souks. As you know the shopsellers in souks who are perhaps not too well educated may well answer tourist querries with a statement that he thinks that is what the tourist wants to hear~ Its not exactly a lie ... but its not exactly the truth either.... and tourists dont half ask some stupid questions!! Bless them all !!

I can see how up the Red Sea they may be used on proper hilts for Razha / sword dances but that is reserved here normally for the Omani dancing Sayf though in the UAE I've seen long curved blades used too.

One can hardly blame the old souk merchants, after all, for how many years have the international sword community been hoodwinked by their own nostalgia over swords of this type?

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.