The Syrian Jambiya/Khanjar

motan · 22nd December 2018, 11:26 AM

Hello all,
I agree with some of Kubur's and A.alnakkas' comments, but disagree with others. The identification by A.alnakkas is, I think, correct. Montagnard's dagger is a late 20th c. or Early 21st c. dagger made exclusively for the souvenir market. They are made to this day not only in Syria, but in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan en China.
However, I also agree with Kubur that the distinction between tourist and original pieces is not clear-cut, especially where locals still carry daggers, or have done so until recently like in Morocco, Oman, UAE, KSA, Jordan, Afghanistan and several others.
If your aim is to collect nice weapons, you may not care too much about authenticity. If you are more interested in the ethnographic aspect, like I am, it could matter a lot. I personally prefer pieces with signs of use to pristine ones because that way I can be sure. Most collectors prefer 100% clean examples. So, there is a continuum between tourist and authentic items and it is a matter of personal preference what you consider "original".

As for Majdali daggers, it is true that early pieces are generally of better quality, but this is certainly not 1:1 relationship. There are old ones of mediocre quality, like the very first example in this thread, and later ones of excellent quality like in my picture (from Artzi's site). There was a particular low point of quality around or just before 1960 (see DaveA's third example in this thread-sorry DaveA, but your second one is also the best and oldest in this thread) so that you can not really say that modern ones are worse.

22nd December 2018, 11:26 AM	#20
motan Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Jerusalem Posts: 274	Hello all, I agree with some of Kubur's and A.alnakkas' comments, but disagree with others. The identification by A.alnakkas is, I think, correct. Montagnard's dagger is a late 20th c. or Early 21st c. dagger made exclusively for the souvenir market. They are made to this day not only in Syria, but in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan en China. However, I also agree with Kubur that the distinction between tourist and original pieces is not clear-cut, especially where locals still carry daggers, or have done so until recently like in Morocco, Oman, UAE, KSA, Jordan, Afghanistan and several others. If your aim is to collect nice weapons, you may not care too much about authenticity. If you are more interested in the ethnographic aspect, like I am, it could matter a lot. I personally prefer pieces with signs of use to pristine ones because that way I can be sure. Most collectors prefer 100% clean examples. So, there is a continuum between tourist and authentic items and it is a matter of personal preference what you consider "original". As for Majdali daggers, it is true that early pieces are generally of better quality, but this is certainly not 1:1 relationship. There are old ones of mediocre quality, like the very first example in this thread, and later ones of excellent quality like in my picture (from Artzi's site). There was a particular low point of quality around or just before 1960 (see DaveA's third example in this thread-sorry DaveA, but your second one is also the best and oldest in this thread) so that you can not really say that modern ones are worse. Attached Images