This is interesting

Steve · 10th February 2010, 01:28 AM

I also thank Michael for keeping the Yemeni jambiya dream alive in the forum.
The Niebuhr jambiya is certainly a classic due to the ability to acurately date it. However I'm sure there are other and even earlier examples but the difficulty is finding a date. I have never found a rhino horn hilted dagger with a date - but sometimes you can find dated silver hilts or scabbards.

I have just been examining two old niello Yemeni silver scabbards I have. Now both were sold together and both have the same stamps on the back of the scabbards. The niello work is pretty crude and as you can see one scabbard is wreckage only - it appears to have been weaken by the niello decoration.
However the stamps are early marks in the kings name - god be with him - and probably also had the silver purity. I am also told by an academic in Yemen there is a date on the wreckage scabbard of 1177 (being about 1763).

So I think they are of interest.
Michael, with regards the Travels of Ibn Battuta, I have a copy translated by Gibb but it is only selections. I am interested in the selections you quote as to whether Battuta makes a description of the jambiya being curved or just as being a dagger???
Thanks,
steve

Michael Blalock · 10th February 2010, 04:00 PM

This image I got from a Google books snippet view of
. Page 220 Volumne 3.
Works issued by the Hakluyt Society‎ - Page 220
Hakluyt Society, Ibn Batuta, Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, B. R. Sanguinetti, C. Defrémery - Voyages and travels - 1958

I have ordered a copy. The one caveat is that The Travels were written by Ibn Juzayy based upon Ibn Battuta's account and later rewritten by others and discovered in the 1830's. From what I read, no original copy of Ibn Juzzay's manuscript remains, so later writers could have added the reference to jambiya.

10th February 2010, 01:28 AM	#1
Steve Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Sydney Posts: 58	I also thank Michael for keeping the Yemeni jambiya dream alive in the forum. The Niebuhr jambiya is certainly a classic due to the ability to acurately date it. However I'm sure there are other and even earlier examples but the difficulty is finding a date. I have never found a rhino horn hilted dagger with a date - but sometimes you can find dated silver hilts or scabbards. I have just been examining two old niello Yemeni silver scabbards I have. Now both were sold together and both have the same stamps on the back of the scabbards. The niello work is pretty crude and as you can see one scabbard is wreckage only - it appears to have been weaken by the niello decoration. However the stamps are early marks in the kings name - god be with him - and probably also had the silver purity. I am also told by an academic in Yemen there is a date on the wreckage scabbard of 1177 (being about 1763). So I think they are of interest. Michael, with regards the Travels of Ibn Battuta, I have a copy translated by Gibb but it is only selections. I am interested in the selections you quote as to whether Battuta makes a description of the jambiya being curved or just as being a dagger??? Thanks, steve Attached Images

10th February 2010, 04:00 PM	#2
Michael Blalock Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dc Posts: 271	This image I got from a Google books snippet view of . Page 220 Volumne 3. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society‎ - Page 220 Hakluyt Society, Ibn Batuta, Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, B. R. Sanguinetti, C. Defrémery - Voyages and travels - 1958 I have ordered a copy. The one caveat is that The Travels were written by Ibn Juzayy based upon Ibn Battuta's account and later rewritten by others and discovered in the 1830's. From what I read, no original copy of Ibn Juzzay's manuscript remains, so later writers could have added the reference to jambiya. Attached Images