The Omani Khanjar

[harrywagner]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams all~ For the Research Library~ heres a few shots of a workshop that produces fabulous quality... on the floor !! This is the maker of some of the best Omani Khanjars ever...
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Hello Ibrahiim,
Thank you for this post. I think I bought one of these last year. Photos attached. I purchased it used. The knife has been used, although it is in excellent condition. The blade has been mistreated but I can fix that. I like it. I like it a lot. There is nothng cheap about it. Granted it is not an antique but I can live with that. If I am not mistaken there is a photo in Mr. Gracie's book of one. I don't have the book with me right now but can provide the page number later today if you or anyone else would like the reference. Thanks again for the post. It is interesting to me to see how they are made. Not to mention seeing these incredible knives!

Harry

[Richard G]

Thank you for this link Ibrahim. It is very inreesting.
Do you know whose site it is?
Regards
Richard

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Thank you for this link Ibrahim. It is very inreesting.
Do you know whose site it is?
Regards
Richard

Salaams Richard G ...No idea ...I thought it was Government inspired... but I can find no source. Al Wusta is a newly introduced region inside the last 2 years in Oman...The old boundaries are reformatted making the historical trace difficult but it can be seen that the major sea port way back through antiquity was Sur...long the sealink with the south including Red Sea Regions and Zanzibar etc.

Where the penny drops is on its style linking it/the Royal Khanjar and the Habaabi (of Abha) Red Sea (Yemen now Saudia ) style...down to the UUUUUUU decoration above the belt and the more curved Scabbard and Hilt and Scabbard style. The key factor is the close proximity to the important Slave and Ivory port of Sur in the 19th C and before. The major difference now between Asir/Habaabi Flower men Khanjar type and Omani is the Yemeni makers signature and floral etching often placed on the back of that Yemeni form..now part of Saudia...since 1923...but steeped in darkness for about 30 years after that.

I have to say that this new website removes a shroud of misunderstanding upon all those issues.

Please see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=omani+khanjar which shows Flower Tribe stamps of the maker plus...the form and the similarity in style with the Al Wusta Khanjar...The transmission being via Sur .

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[colin henshaw]

There is another reference to the manufacture of jambiya/khanjar blades, to be found in the book "Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia" by John Topham, page 136 :-

"While the sheaths were often made by local craftsmen, the blades were usually imported from Damascus or the Yemen"

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

There is another reference to the manufacture of jambiya/khanjar blades, to be found in the book "Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia" by John Topham, page 136 :-

"While the sheaths were often made by local craftsmen, the blades were usually imported from Damascus or the Yemen"

There is a lot of loose referencing on the web ...e.g. http://www.thenational.ae/arts-cultu...er-circa-1930s where names like Damascus and Yemen crop up with no factual evidence ...I think they are traded in from India and as you say Germany...however I cant think why they don't come from Hadramaut...and local manufacture must have occurred...as well as Baluchistan Iran etc None of the blades I ever saw are marked stamped or identifiable...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Al Saidi or Royal Khanjar. For another plate form short belt section see #128 here.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by harrywagner

Hello Ibrahiim,
Thank you for this post. I think I bought one of these last year. Photos attached. I purchased it used. The knife has been used, although it is in excellent condition. The blade has been mistreated but I can fix that. I like it. I like it a lot. There is nothng cheap about it. Granted it is not an antique but I can live with that. If I am not mistaken there is a photo in Mr. Gracie's book of one. I don't have the book with me right now but can provide the page number later today if you or anyone else would like the reference. Thanks again for the post. It is interesting to me to see how they are made. Not to mention seeing these incredible knives!

Harry

Salaams harrywagner ... I like the Khanjar. A lot of people may confuse the concept of making new khanjars... They make these weapons now for the same reasons they made them scores or hundreds of years ago as a badge of office ...head of the Omani household ...and a tradition handed down through the ages. It is therefor Iconic ...an emblem of Oman. In a hundred years yours will be an antique but even then new Khanjars will be being made in the time honoured way and by hand.
Yours is an excellent high quality item... as you say some blade wear or damage which is easy to fix...or to get a refitted blade. The point being that the weapon is constructed so any part of it can be replaced... So you could transform it in minutes to an al Busaidi simply by changing the hilt...I would say this one has what we can say is a new hilt in high density carbon... and fitted to look like Ivory...I see nothing wrong with that at all...The design is what we call eyes of the Bedouin...and in what we also call the Baatinah (coastal) style with silver stitching all over the scabbard below its belt.

There is a similar style at http://khanjar.om/Parts.html See the Types...I read it as agreeing with Omani coastal Baatinah form. The composite hilt with silver pins easily placed without splitting.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[harrywagner]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams harrywagner ... I like the Khanjar. A lot of people may confuse the concept of making new khanjars... They make these weapons now for the same reasons they made them scores or hundreds of years ago as a badge of office ...head of the Omani household ...and a tradition handed down through the ages. It is therefor Iconic ...an emblem of Oman. In a hundred years yours will be an antique but even then new Khanjars will be being made in the time honoured way and by hand.
Yours is an excellent high quality item... as you say some blade wear or damage which is easy to fix...or to get a refitted blade. The point being that the weapon is constructed so any part of it can be replaced... So you could transform it in minutes to an al Busaidi simply by changing the hilt...I would say this one has what we can say is a new hilt in high density carbon... and fitted to look like Ivory...I see nothing wrong with that at all...The design is what we call eyes of the Bedouin...and in what we also call the Baatinah (coastal) style with silver stitching all over the scabbard below its belt.

There is a similar style at http://khanjar.om/Parts.html See the Types...I read it as agreeing with Omani coastal Baatinah form. The composite hilt with silver pins easily placed without splitting.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Hello Ibrahiim,
Thank you for this information. I did not know the pin arrangement style was called "eyes of the Bedouin", or about the Baatinah form.

We think alike with regards to the importance of a Khanjar's age. Quality and beauty are more important considerations. I really like this one. That the hilt is composite does not bother me. I had a difficult time believing it was man made.

Thanks again for the information!

Best regards,
Harry

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by harrywagner

Hello Ibrahiim,
Thank you for this information. I did not know the pin arrangement style was called "eyes of the Bedouin", or about the Baatinah form.

We think alike with regards to the importance of a Khanjar's age. Quality and beauty are more important considerations. I really like this one. That the hilt is composite does not bother me. I had a difficult time believing it was man made.

Thanks again for the information!

Best regards,
Harry

Salaams harrywagner ....SEE post 5 on this thread for a Baatinah (Oman Coastal) workshop making a Baatinah Khanjar...(see also #96 and #106 and #108 ) This form is easy to recognise being stitched all over below the belt section ...no expanse of leather showing. Pattern either geometrical or as is often the case an eyes of the bedouin design... Hand stitched on leather with silver thread. In the hilt of your example silver pins are hammered in to give a design and add weight to the hilt. Sometimes these silver pin geometric and other forms look like bull horn or rams head or floral shapes.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All~ One burning question is...Regarding the Al Wusta khanjar and its almost identical like ness to the weapon in the Asir (The flower tribe khanjar...also known as Habaabi...of Abha ...which I note only differs in that the Asir style often carries a floral stamp and or a signature on the reverse. (Potentially an owners signature)

Was this weapon faithfully copied by artesans who may have migrated from Al Wusta /perhaps blood relatives...Silversmiths that simply moved to the Asir from Oman ...or is it simply the result of weapons being shipped from Al Wusta and stamped/signed in the Asir...i.e. traded in ?


See The Habaabi Khanjar/Jambia; FromThe Asir.

Regards,
Ibrahim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All...On reflection #3 and #76 whilst easily confused with Dhakilliyyah (interior) and UAE form are more than likely from the Sharkiyyah thus probably made in either Sur or Sinaw...Such is the difficulty in arriving at a birthplace on these weapons that I add UAE/ Sharqiyyah/Suri style knowing that leaves some wiggle room on these difficult to be certain daggers..

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[mrcjgscott]

Hello Ibrahiim,

A wonderful and very useful thread, even for a layman like myself.

A further question if I may on my friend's khanjar we spoke about recently:

What are the standard blade length's encountered with Sur sailors jambiya?

Many thanks,

Chris