The Tourist Item/Souvenier in arms antiquities

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

I think we are on pretty much the same page Jose. The tourist stuff (produced in some volume for souks with cheap material) is of course pretty bad....but things that reflect some quality, and with actual weapon potential....may not reach earlier standards but still are ethnographically viable examples.

....but then who is the judge to say that an item is bad or good. One might argue that the modern made quality Khanjars shown on Ibrahiim's posts, though no doubt "Ethnographic" are also made for tourists, otherwise why would they be produced, unless for presentation. I may be quite wrong, but I would expect that the well-to-do of Oman and the region, would be more likely to wear a quality old piece handed down thru the generations.
Pics of everyday life in Yemen (particularly) show Khanjar/Jambiya worn by the locals, of a quality we collectors might term low.
I have in my collection a few middle eastern swords which one could only class as "Tribal manufacture" but though of low quality, they certainly are usable as a weapon and I for one would not like to get in the way of one being wielded in my direction.
Stu