Arabian sword, new or old? opinions please

[M.carter]

Originally Posted by derek

Only that it's a cultural festival in KSA and happens to fall around the same dates as the Dubai Shopping festival, which is another cultural event. I went to the Global Village during the shopping festival two years in a row and found MANY excellent blades offered by sellers in the Yemen pavillion. I found Arabian, African, Indo-persian, they had it all. If only I didn't have 2 kids to feed , I would have cleaned them out.

Are there good blades to be found at the Janadriya Festival?

-d

There are excellent blades to be found in Janadriya. Swordsmiths come from all Saudi arabia to Janadriya during this festival and produce excellent swords and Jambiyas (as cultural heritage).

[A.alnakkas]

Sorry for bringing back the dead!

This saif is probably from the King Faisal era. The blades are usually forged, thick and are ment for business. After the King Faisal era, the saifs became more Ardha oriented and come with thin (but forged) blades that would buzz and are flexible, the fittings also fits the era. Newer ones have almost identical fittings but are less artistic.

These examples (King Faisal era. Probably even before King Faisal..) are actually impressive, as they are very faithful to the original badawi, I personally consider them authentic and are collectable. Some of them come with stamped blades even.

[ALEX]

I agree with A.Alnakkas,
I also consider them authentic, mid/late 20th C and original to the style.
Here's another similar sword with older Caucasian blade.