Kattara for comments

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by TVV

I was lucky enough to win this kattara on eBay about a month ago and it has finally arrived, which enables me to share pictures.
Scabbard and hilt are in poor shape, but at least they retain most of the original fittings and leather. As you can see the fittings are quite simple - no silver, nothing fancy.
Same can be said for the blade - it looks like a 19th century trade blade.
There are plenty of markings, identical on both sides - at the base of the blade there are gurda markings, with something in the middle - does anyone know what it is or what it attempts to represent? At the end of the fullers there is also a small cross. All the markings seem to have been added to the blade locally.
Do you think I am correct about this being a trade blade imported fro, Europe, or would you say this is a local blade?

I am very happy to have added this to my other kattara with a curved blade (most likely an imported shashka blade), and I appreciate everyone's comments.

Regards,
Teodor

Salaams, In reviewing your excellent post #1 I note that the hogs back marks as you indicate are local add ons. They appear done with a chissel and mallet rather than a stamp. Although I agree these are both Omani weapons a Kattara and a curved Sayf I only agree that perhaps the sayf is a European Blade. The straight is perhaps not. I cannot deduce if the straight is a hybrid or in line with what I am trying to prove ... an Omani (RAK) made blade.
I also recently discovered curved RAK Sayfs made for Oman !
Regards Ibrahiim.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams,
It has recently been discovered that Ras Al Khaimah(RAK) swords are a huge influence in Omani Kattara and may have been for generations. They have expertly copied several blade marks shown below and others e.g. #88. Now identified an Omani Sayf made in RAK.

As a side note other RAK industries use a Crown Mark such as the RAK Ceramics Co. There is a thought that Ras Al Khaimah which means "Head of The Tents" uses the illustration of a crown to reflect that stylised image...of tent tops.

Photos; Omani Swords. (Number 4 is a Sayf the rest Kattara) #88 is a Sayf.
1. UAE emblem with "God is Great" stamp to the right.
2. Lion + Sword, moon and star to left. Note "God is Great" scribed in the stamp under the belly of the Lion.
3. Lion... thin strike (on three Swords)
4. Crown Taj Mark on a Sayf.
5. Crown Taj Mark. Probable double strike.
6. Odd Crown reminicent of the Rolex stamp also the stamp of Berretta a European Gun Maker.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[TVV]

Ibrahim, even if we assume that unlike the rest of the area around it, from the Sudan through the rest of Arabia to India, which all imported and used European manufactured blades, Oman somehow remained an isolated oasis of local bladesmithing, I still have a major problem. We can agree that many of the markings were applied locally, but why would the RAK need to replicate European makers marks, unless those marks had become popular in Oman and perceived as a proof of quality? And how could Germand and Genoese makers marks become popular, unless such blades had been imported in huge quanitites?

That being said, I admire your quest for finding out more about the Omani kattara. If you have access to local archives from the 19th century, it would be interesting to dig for some info on what was being imported in Muscat during that time, and potentially even some info on the cost of European blank blades as opposed to what the RAK was charging for its production, as I have a strong suspicion that at one point it must have been very difficult for local smiths to compete with the European mass produced import in price (assuming similar quality of the production).

Regards,
Teodor

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by TVV

Ibrahim, even if we assume that unlike the rest of the area around it, from the Sudan through the rest of Arabia to India, which all imported and used European manufactured blades, Oman somehow remained an isolated oasis of local bladesmithing, I still have a major problem. We can agree that many of the markings were applied locally, but why would the RAK need to replicate European makers marks, unless those marks had become popular in Oman and perceived as a proof of quality? And how could Germand and Genoese makers marks become popular, unless such blades had been imported in huge quanitites?

That being said, I admire your quest for finding out more about the Omani kattara. If you have access to local archives from the 19th century, it would be interesting to dig for some info on what was being imported in Muscat during that time, and potentially even some info on the cost of European blank blades as opposed to what the RAK was charging for its production, as I have a strong suspicion that at one point it must have been very difficult for local smiths to compete with the European mass produced import in price (assuming similar quality of the production).

Regards,
Teodor

Salaams Teodor, Your questions are good and really make me think. ..First and foremost I am only considering Omani straight bladed (though I have curved Sayf blades that have clearly come through RAK workshops) Kattara from the so called new 17th C design which we are led to believe are European Trade Blades but which I suspect are home grown i.e. From Ras al Khaimah.

Blade Marks. You will see my last post with some RAK blade marks ; The Lion is Arabian and even has the arabic inscription on the underbelly. The "God is Great" stamp is clearly from here...The Taj Crown is India inspired from Queen Victoria. There is an odd Crown (Picture 6) but I believe that is simply an artist impression to illustrate the Ras al Khaimah (head of the tents idea). Moon and stars~ Arabic insignia. So, actually, so far no clear European Marks.

In addition I should point out that I have seen many Omani swords; Sayf and Kattara with no markings at all.

Perhaps somehow a shipper tied to the Nizwa inner circle fetched a shipload (Dhows in those days could handle 500 tons) of swords from somewhere and had the complete idea of blade replacement of an iconic religious sword dating to the beginning of Ibathi Islam? done overnight in one fell swoop in an atmosphere where coastal Oman was at loggerheads with the Interior ? In those days ?

I have just read a very difficult complex book "The French and The English in the Indian Ocean by Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Qassimi from circa 16th to 19thC. It is impossible to imagine trade flowing through Muscat to Nizwa from any of these nations as neither could, until the early 20th C, persuade Oman to even accept an Envoy in Muscat.

The transition from short battle sword to long flexible dancing sword must have originated in Nizwa; The heart of Ibathi Islam. I suggest that far from accepting 500 tons of swords in one hit (or several) that swords in the new form with blade tang and pommel drifted slowly into Nizwa and became fashionable and then sought after so that over several generations it became the sword of choice superceding eventually the short weapon retaining its name Kattara and absorbing the Terrs Shield as a fighting system. The transition could have taken 100 years.

Perhaps that is why there are many different Omani Kattara swords; some with one fuller, some with three, different stamps, many with no stamps, some with a hole in the pommel some not, many differently pommeled...big and small, long handled and medium long, blades not equally measured.. all pointing to a random cottage industry drip feed system rather than a massive industrial cargo load from Europe.

This drip feed of blades, I argue, came from Ras al Khaimah. It was on the Camel trade route from Nizwa via Buraimi up the waterhole line to the Gulf and Ras al Khaimah. There, I believe, are The Swordmakers of Oman; The Shihuh originally from Persia but now straddling the Oman UAE borders who it can be argued, have made Omani Swords for generations and who still do so today.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
P.S. As yet none of my team have been able to crack any of the museum archives but we are trying. If I discover a document outlining sword deliveries into Oman I will of course post the details to forum...