Sudanese Arm Dagger For Comment

Kamil · 11th February 2005, 11:01 AM

Hi Lew,
another great piece! I, personally, hope that it is not your LAST Sudanese dagger

I like to see them from time to time, and this forum seems to be more and more dominated by kerises (with all due respect to keris-lovers and kerises themselves). Concerning the inscription, the lower line resembles in shape the word "Omdurman" (again!), but written carelessly and without diacritics. The upper one is more complicated; its form can suggest that it contains a date (the elongated word "year" and the date itself above it, as in your previous piece). On the other hand, the middle part of it can be the beginning of the 20th Sura (Ta Ha); this, however, seems to me less probable, as I have never seen this kind of knives decorated with Qur'anic inscriptions and, besides, this particular fragment is not very apppropriate for decoration of arms. It is also possible that the inscription has been copied from another dagger by an illiterate artisan who tried to render the shape of what he saw without understanding it. It would be interesting to check this; could you try to photograph the inscription? Or maybe, if lines are incised (as I suppose), you can rub it through tracing paper

Kamil · 11th February 2005, 12:07 PM

Lew,
I haven't noticed the last picture (the photograph of the inscription) - it is quite good and I must correct my previous guesses concerning the lower line of text. I'm now sute that it reads "al-Khartoum", quite ornately written, in two lines. Alas - no date. Or maybe there is something more?

11th February 2005, 11:01 AM	#1
Kamil Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Poland, Warsaw Posts: 33	Hi Lew, another great piece! I, personally, hope that it is not your LAST Sudanese dagger I like to see them from time to time, and this forum seems to be more and more dominated by kerises (with all due respect to keris-lovers and kerises themselves). Concerning the inscription, the lower line resembles in shape the word "Omdurman" (again!), but written carelessly and without diacritics. The upper one is more complicated; its form can suggest that it contains a date (the elongated word "year" and the date itself above it, as in your previous piece). On the other hand, the middle part of it can be the beginning of the 20th Sura (Ta Ha); this, however, seems to me less probable, as I have never seen this kind of knives decorated with Qur'anic inscriptions and, besides, this particular fragment is not very apppropriate for decoration of arms. It is also possible that the inscription has been copied from another dagger by an illiterate artisan who tried to render the shape of what he saw without understanding it. It would be interesting to check this; could you try to photograph the inscription? Or maybe, if lines are incised (as I suppose), you can rub it through tracing paper

11th February 2005, 12:07 PM	#2
Kamil Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Poland, Warsaw Posts: 33	Lew, I haven't noticed the last picture (the photograph of the inscription) - it is quite good and I must correct my previous guesses concerning the lower line of text. I'm now sute that it reads "al-Khartoum", quite ornately written, in two lines. Alas - no date. Or maybe there is something more?