Perhaps the World's Ugliest Nimcha, but Still Quite Interesting

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

This nimcha will win few awards for aesthetics, but it may illustrate for us how the nimcha became such a prestige weapon that it was copied by some tribal societies further to the south of it Moroccan origins.

The sword has a hammered blade that is quite crude, with forging flaws aplenty. Note the central fuller has been "hammered in" rather than "chiseled out." The hilt is wood with, form fitted for the hand, and inlaid with brass wire typical to other hilts of the Maghreb. The guard may have been bought or traded for, as it is clearly the finest piece of ironwork on the weapon. The handguard is crude but elegant in its own right.

The sword was fitted with a Manding style scabbard once complete with all the tassels and trappings, but those have all been carefully removed, with only the attaching buttons remaining. My own humble theory is that a Manding style baldric would have been too short and made the long sword to difficult to retrieve from an underarm position. Most Moroccan nimchas have their baldrics mounted to opposite sides of the scabbard mouth's locket, for much easier retrieval of a long sword. This is why I believe the manding style baldric was removed in favor of perhaps fitting the sword through a belt.

Observations and comments are welcomed!

Dimensions:

Overall length: 39in.
Blade length: 33.33in.
Widest point of the blade: 1.5in.

Its a Nimcha but with all the ingredients you mention. A great old brute !!