Common antique Omani Buckler, Parrying Shield, made of rhino hide and with leather handle inside. With with brass fasteners outside and rings inside. A buckler is a small round shield held in the left hand when fencing. It has two handles close together in the center and held in the hand. See also the Ingrams collection in the British Museum. The American Joseph Osgood writes visits Zanzibar around 1850 and writes that "soldiers are wearing shields of rhinoceros hide. and that many shields of this kind are turned at Zanzibar for Northern markets"
The book by Guillain contains probably the earliest picture of an Omani Rhinoshield based on a photo and he describes it as a "Swahili shield"
Ingrams in Zanzibar Its history and its people 1931 page 326 quotes from the work Climate and Productions of Zanzibar by Colonel Sykes 1850: " one branch of manufacture is carried to a considerable extent, that of round shields 18 inches in diameter made from the hide of a rhinoceros, which, after being soaked and boiled , can be moulded into any form" However the diameter of our Turs is 26 cm and height 15 cm, so we are not sure if we talk about the same shields. Ingrams also mentions in 1931 that "with increasing civilisation more and more of the ancient crafts have disappeared"
