Thanks for sharing David.
In regards to your Jambiya, I’d have to ask, where you told it’s Sayfani when you bought it? No disrespect but there’s a few things that Ian pointed out that are leading to what I’m concluding here.
Sayfani is the name of a family that were involved in the Jambiya trade, they name the style of the Jambiya after them. Sayfani today is used very loosely, even in Yemen, locals tend to identify any Jambiya that is made using Rhino Horn. Which isn’t technically true. Most likely since they were one of the largest and more recent Jambiya dealers going back many many years. Sayfani, Azari, and Assadi with Assadi being the oldest of the 3 are the top guys when talking about Rhino Hilts in Yemen today. They each had their own distinctive properties in regards to what part of the horn they used when crafting their hilts. Basically a trademark to identify their skill. After Yemen started to crack down on the rhino horn trade, many jambiya dealers started to turn to Buffalo, Ram, and African Gazelle horn to use as the primary material. Especially Azari style jambiyas. Unfortunately many modern Jambiya dealers especially from the late 1950s and up even tried to find ways to imitate the Rhino Horn and stamp one of the names of the above families to it. The biggest ripoff was when they used what is know as “Hoof Al Jamal” or Camel hoof. I actually have one that was bought in the early 1990s. The Hoof al Jamal when first produced had extremely close resemblance to Rhino and was sold for A LOT more than its actual worth to those who were not familiar with Rhino Hilts. Especially dealers from cities outside of Sanaa like Dahmar. After a few years the hilt started to disintegrate where the silver filigree is placed and the owner would go to try to save it just to find out that they encountered a dishonest seller.
In regards to your jambiyah, I’m pretty confident that it is not “Sayfani” horn in the way I think you’re identifying it as.
3 strong telltale indicators right off the bat to a person who’s been around Sayfani hits are clearly visible with yours.
The first is the hilt itself. It’s not translucent nor does it show the famous fiber like structure the in the areas of authentic Sayfani. Imitation style of how he made his hilts and looks more like Cattle Horn was used here. Which is called “Kraak” in Yemen
Secondly, the brass disks. With authentic Rhino Horn jambiyas, brass wouldn’t traditionally be used because it devalues the entire Jambiya and its status. Sometimes people replaced their gold disk for cheaper material due to increase in theft after the ban on Rhino Horn in Yemen others sold it when in need idk but that’s the stories here in Yemen. Most High end jambiyas use very pure gold has been designed to imitate a certain age in Yemen’s history. Like mine, the gold pieces are made of high purity gold that were designed to empathize the roots of the owner showing long family history to the land in Yemen, status, and prestige of the Jambiya owner. Basically inspired by the Hamyari Gold coins from way back.
Thirdly the blade itself looks very modern.
I can post my other Jambiya that is decorated with 2 1911 George V Half Sovereign St. George Dragon pieces if you’d like.
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