19th century silver mounted Moroccan Islamic dagger Jambiya Koummya. A superb quality curved tapering double – edged steel blade cut with fullers, with a wooden grip of characteristic waisted form, with a silver ferrule, and a peacock’s tail pommel, engraved in foliate in its solid silver scabbard, chiseled with expanded flower heads and scrolling foliage.
The koummya is the characteristic traditional dagger of the Berber and Arabic peoples of Morocco. Stone classifies these as being one localized variant of the Arabic jambiya, and the contoured handles, curved double-edged blades and exaggeratedly upturned scabbard tips are all features consistent with such an interpretation. In the context of the traditional regional manner of dress, the koummya is worn visibly at the left side, generally about at the level of the waist and is suspended vertically, with the scabbard tip forward, by a long woolen baldric, attached at either end to one of the two scabbard rings, and worn crossing in front and back of the torso and over the right shoulder.
