Oman and Zanzibar Virtual Museum

Rare complete and antique Omani Sa'idiyyah Khanjar / Royal Khanjar.  Seven thick rings, extensive filigree work.  Rhino and silver hilt.  Contemporary silver buckle with tree of life motive. No textile / woven band.  This khanjar has 7 rings. two pieces of silver missing from the hilt.

Ref 2 Stuhlmann 1910 mentions that these khanjars generally have inferior blades (bought very cheaply in Solingen) thereby defusing the myth that old Omani khanjars normally had high quality blades. Ref 2 Stuhlmann 1910 p127 also refers to the filigree silver work on the khanjars, curved silver powder horns and silver tubes (in bandoleers) that used were used in the past by the irregular soldiers of the Sultan. He also mentions that these khanjars were normally not made in Zanzibar.

 

Arab names: Sa'idiyyah Khanjar; Saidi Khanjar; Omani Khanjar

Period: 1840-1900

1. Ernst Hieke, zur geschichte des Deutschen handels mit Oastafrika Teil 1 Wm Oswald & Co" page abb 40 1939. Earliest picture of Sultan Madjid with a Saidi khanjar
2. Stuhlmann handwerk und industrie in Ostafrika Friederichsen & Co Hamburg 1910 page 127 abbildung69
3. Ruth Hawley Silver the traditional art of Oman 2000 p 16 above left
4. Robert Elgood The Arms and armour of Arabia  page 81 fig 9.26
5. Jehan S Rajab Silver Jewellery of Oman p 26;45
6. Richardson & Dorr The craft and Heritage of Oman vol 1 222-23 Vol 2 p 452; J.L. Carter Tribes in Oman Peninsular publishing 1982 page 2
7. Catalog of the Oman exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam 2009 page 157 and the front-cover!
8. Traditional silver jewellery and handicrafts from Oman 2009 by Jean Greffioz p 119, 131
9. Islamic Art in Oman page 326 and 327
10. Unsheathing the Omani Khunjar by Robert Richmond in A Tribute to Oman Volume IX 20th National Day page 110-115