Shibriya
Shibriya
Palestinian Arab / Bedouin
Gaza, Palestine
Dated 1960
Steel, iron, metal alloy, wood, brass, plastic
Blade: 14,6cm
Hilt & Blade: 24,8cm
Hilt, Blade, Sheath: 26cm
Collection Date: 2016
Collection Number: 75
Ex. Swedish Private Collection (2016)
The shibriya knife of the Arab populations in the Levant and Sinai, a symbol of the Bedoiun tribesman. This example is in the traditional manner, from Gaza in Palestine and dated 1960.
The steel asymmetrical blade is double- edged with a raised medial ridge, recurving approximately half length tapering to a very sharp acute point. The blade is stippled "UNEF GAZA 1960" on the front. The hilt is composed of white metal alloy embossed with stippled designs and brass filigree wire. An iron band holds a dark plastic stone set in brass around the central grip. Iron pommel plate. The sheath has a wooden interior, cased in iron covered in a metal alloy on the front and decorated in stippled design. Three sections of braided brass wire adorn the front, set with four artificial plastics stones. Iron belt loop on the reverse side. Missing its iron suspension rings.
The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), specifically UNEF I, was a peacekeeping operation established by the UN General Assembly in 1956 to secure the end of the Suez Crisis and monitor the armistice along the Israel-Egypt border, including the Gaza Strip. Sweden was one of the eleven countries to contribute its forces from where this dagger was in a previous collection.
[1] http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=3491