Sboula for Comments

[Jim McDougall]

Very interesting perspective Kubur on these Tunisian examples! and thank you for pointing out characteristic differences. It is good to see how the 'Maghrebi' forms, which typically include Moroccan and Algerian littoral have extended into the Tunisian sphere. Thank you as well for the link to the earlier thread which was a remarkably informational discussion.

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Very interesting perspective Kubur on these Tunisian examples! and thank you for pointing out characteristic differences. It is good to see how the 'Maghrebi' forms, which typically include Moroccan and Algerian littoral have extended into the Tunisian sphere. Thank you as well for the link to the earlier thread which was a remarkably informational discussion.

Thanks to you Jim for your wise and very informative messages. I wish i could write long messages like you. But I'm a short minded guy with short messages... If you remember our previous thread you mentioned the Albacete type piercing in the blade, seeming assortment of influences from Spanish colonies. I agree and I'll add Spanish colonies and strongholds in North Africa. It's funny because (the excellent) Lebedynsky said that these daggers could be Lebanese.

[Kubur]

Hi Teodor,

I will go a bit deeper and say that the Genoui, Janwi is the Moroccan version of the Corsican stiletto or the Genoese stiletto.
On this picture, the knife to the left is a Moroccan Genoui and not a s'bula or sboula.
For me the best version of the Genoese stiletto is the Algerian khodmi or Bu saidi knife: the same kind of hilt and same kind of blade...
And to come back to the beginning, your dagger is a Moroccan s'bula for sure.

[TVV]

Kubur,

Given all the evidence for European influence on Maghrebi arms, I believe you are onto something regarding the blade shape similarity between stilettos and genoi and khodmi daggers. It would make sense that the locals would call that blade style after Genoa, whose merchants dominated the Western Mediterranean trade at the time when the style made it to Morocco and Algeria.

Which book is the illustration from?

Teodor

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by TVV

Kubur,

Given all the evidence for European influence on Maghrebi arms, I believe you are onto something regarding the blade shape similarity between stilettos and genoi and khodmi daggers. It would make sense that the locals would call that blade style after Genoa, whose merchants dominated the Western Mediterranean trade at the time when the style made it to Morocco and Algeria.

Which book is the illustration from?

Teodor

Hi unfortunately I just picked up on Google images like a lot of members...

[TVV]

Here is another one, made from a European cavalry sword blade. The hilt is very crude and looks like the branches of the crossguard were removed on purpose. The tip has been reshaped as well.

I suspect that these daggers were made from European sword blades on purpose, and not necessarily from broken and recycled blades.

[TVV]

I obtained a copy of Lindert's booklet as I was curious about the Ethiopian connection. I am attaching scans of the photo where he shows a sboula with two swords from Ethiopia, as well as a scan of the text that refers to the sboula. It does not appear that the attribution was made based on Amharic text on the blade.

The entire booklet is riddled with wrong attributions, and I get the feeling that while Lindert travelled through Africa in search of arms and armor specimens to collect, the locals sold him anything they could, along with some embellished stories. I guess coming up with tales about a secretive group of black Jewish artisans is a better sales description than "unknown sword from somewhere else".