The Omani Shamshiir.

[kahnjar1]

Persian? Others will no doubt may have a better idea.

[Excalibur2025]

Yes, it's Persian, but most likely would have been owned by an Omani.

Just trying to figure out if the ivory blocks on the grip have been removed or decomposed while underground. We're looking at potentially more than four years in soil exposed to a tropical climate including heat and torrential rain in the rainy seasons.

[kahnjar1]

Not necessarily owned by an Omani. Many countries traded thru Zanzibar including the Omanis.
Why do you think that the grip was ivory? Could just as easily been bone or giraffe hoof, or for that matter a wood of some sort. If it was ivory (suggesting a high class owner) it would also point to the grip dressing being silver. From your photos it would appear that the grip is not silver.
Could you post a photo of the whole sword please.

[Jim McDougall]

As well noted by Kahnjar, Zanzibar was a key trade center in the 19th century and of course being an Omani sultanate, there were considerable numbers of the types of edged weapons commonly in use in Arabia in that context.

The Persian shamshir was a highly prized sword by Arabs throughout the Dar al Islam, so presence of this example in Zanzibar is not unusual. It seems unusual that the hilt material is gone as I thought bone, ivory etc. would survive in an archaeological deposit. More likely of course the ivory would have been taken for its value and the sword discarded.
By the same token, if the hilt was silver, that too would have been taken.

Always fascinating when any weapon is found in situ, and speculating how, when and why it ended up where found. Thank you for posting this!

[Excalibur2025]

It's worth bearing in mind the climate of Zanzibar. It's a tropical island six degrees below the equator. It has two rainy seasons with torrential rain and flooding. Annual rainfall is av. 1684 mm (compared to 1,168 in the UK). So Zanzibar gets nearly 50% more rain than the UK. So it can be very wet and humid. The average temp. is 25 - 30 degrees C.

So the sword would have been exposed to a lot of water while in the soil. Imagine what those conditions would do for between 300 and 500 years...

[Excalibur2025]

Here's the sword. It's almost exactly the same dimensions as the shamshir in the National Museum of Oman, except the blade is slightly narrower. However, there might be a reason for that, which I'll go into on another post. The shamshir in the museum is dated 1675 CE, but I think the Zanzibar shamshir is older.

[Excalibur2025]

In fact, it's rainy season right now in Zanzibar.

It's not like the drizzle in the UK - it's a proper tropical downpour. It can go on for hours. If you're outside you get completely drenched, even with an umbrella.

[Oliver Pinchot]

At the earliest, this blade could be late 17th c. Much likelier mid-late 18th century. The guard is 18th century. Where it was found doesn't impact its origins, it is Persian, plain and simple. That it was carried (and apparently lost) in Zanzibar is an interesting side note, but that is all you can say about it. On the other hand, if the blade were inscribed for example, MY NAME IS MUSTAFA, I'M OMANI AND THIS HERE IS MY SWORD, you could make a case for such an attribution.

There are excavated ivory artifacts dating back over 40,000 years which are surprisingly intact. No type of ivory I'm aware of degrades easily or quickly. Assuming the grips were ivory, which is far from certain unless there were particles attached to the tang, this sword lost its grips before it was... interred, as it were.... They were just as likely to be horn or wood.

An overall image would be helpful.

[Excalibur2025]

Originally Posted by Oliver Pinchot

At the earliest, this blade could be late 17th c. Much likelier mid-late 18th century. The guard is 18th century. Where it was found doesn't impact its origins, it is Persian, plain and simple. That it was carried (and apparently lost) in Zanzibar is an interesting side note.

There are excavated ivory artifacts dating back over 40,000 years which are surprisingly intact. No type of ivory I'm aware of degrades easily or quickly. Assuming the grips were ivory, which is far from certain unless there were particles attached to the tang, this sword lost its grips before it was... interred, as it were....

An overall image would be helpful.

Ivory can degrade within hundreds or thousands of years depending on the conditions. I had this confirmed by an expert in ivory. The local expert said in this case it would take more than four hundred years. The handle shows remnants of a white substance and there are also white traces at the top of the blade.

As I mentioned before, the tropical climate is very different to what most people are used to. We get nearly 50% more rain than the UK, plus of course it's very fertile here with lots of bacteria etc.

As for the style, two experts have said it's 17th century but could be earlier. The shamshir in the National Museum of Oman is almost the same style dated as 1675 CE.

[Excalibur2025]

Here's a link to an Australian museum website that mentions conditions for the deterioration of ivory:

https://manual.museum.wa.gov.au/book...s%20by%20acids.

[Jim McDougall]

Oliver thank you so much for coming in on this!!Well noted on the fact that the place where a sword is found, whether intact, as a heirloom, trophy or as in this case, an excavated relic ...makes little difference as far as the origins of the item itself.

Going forward with research from various sources, I hope my interpretations might lend to some viable assessment of this example, and I always hope for corrections as required.

In this case, with the fact that this shamshir, clearly of Persian form and of course likely origin, was excavated from a local area after being in situ for an indeterminate period, in Zanzibar.

It is suggested that it would be likely that such a high quality sword might be expected to be found in Zanzibar as this was of course an Omani Sultanate, and with Omanis, as throughout the Dar al-Islam, the Persian shamshir was a highly prized mark of status.

With Zanzibar being a most dynamic entrepot for trade and diplomatic contact in East Africa linking the Red Sea, Gulf, and India with the Omani ports in Bahrain and Muscat being key in the network.
After the death of Said bin Sultan in Zanzibar in 1856, his dominions were split into two separate Sultanates based in MUSCAT and ZANZIBAR.

In Muscat, there was a resident population of Persian merchants who imported, assembled and exported arms into the interior, but certainly to Zanzibar as well.
(material taken from "Arms & Armor of Arabia in the 18th and 19th c", Robert Elgood, 1994, p.2, not quoted).

In looking at the example in discussion, the high relief calligraphy in the center of the cross guard reminded me of the use of the bold thuluth script as used decoratively in various Islamic situations. This pen (style) of Islamic calligraphy was popularized by Mehmed Sevki Efendi in the 19th c. but as written was also well known my Mustafah Rakira Efendi (1757-1826).
This is far out of my field, but the primary point here is that the inscription in the guard seems Thuluth, and Ottoman centered. Thuluth evolved with Ottoman calligrapher Hafiz Osman in the 17th century.

To be more specific, the thuluth style brought to mind the distinct blades which began being produced in Khorassan, Qazuin and Isfahan in response to increased demand for Persian blades both there and abroad in the late 18th early 19th century. These were heavier, with more complex system of fullers and grooves and with cartouche with pictogram of lion as well as large panel of this kind of calligraphy on other side of blade. These blades have been regarded as 'Persian revival' blades and from early to near mid 19th c.

These are shown and discussed in the outstanding article by Oliver Pinchot ("The Persian Shamshir and the Signature of Assad Allah", Arms Collecting, Vol.40, #1, 2002. p.7).
The reason for adding this is primarily for perspective.

With the demand for Persian blades demanding a shift to commercialism toward end of 18th c. , the impetus for likelihood of the example shamshir in discussion having a much earlier blade, probably more to middle of 18th century or earlier, and it being watered steel more likely as well.

With Persian blades, during the 17th century regular steel was used in roughly half the blades, while the majority of patterned steel blades had increased by end of century. Into the 18th virtually all Persian blades had complex and impressive patterns in the steel. The Persian damask blades were highly prized in Arabia, thus it would seem likely this example's blade is quite likely of some sort of damask.

Finally, I found a compellingly similar example in "At Study of the Eastern Sword", (Kirill Rivkin & Brian Isaac, 2017, example 178b):

From this, it is referred to as a QUALITY PERSIAN SHAMSHIR LATE 18TH CENTURY, with WOOTZ blade. Note inscriptions in cross guard. The cartouches on blade are as emulated in the later 'commercial' Persian blades with Lion of God pictogram.


The pics:
Top is often regarded as a Bedouin shamshir, however these, with the commercial Persian blades may occur throughout Arab spheres. These 'trade' blades from c.1800-40s are found in swords from Caucasian shashka, to Indian tulwars and many others. Shown as perspective with Persian shamshirs from end of 18th c.
Next:
The comparative example of Persian shamshir we are looking at, which appears from mid to latter 18th century, with likely earlier blade likely of watered steel, pattern unknown, and as of notable quality probably of some distinguished owner in Zanzibar. The corrosion of course makes further identification of blade difficult if not virtually impossible unless through radiographic analysis.
The missing grip plates, which were likely ivory, are in my opinion absent due to being removed for the ivory itself, and the sword likely stolen, was discarded accordingly.