The dagger handed to Lawrence of Arabia after the capture of Aqaba, and made famous by actor Omar Sharif on the big screen, is to be sold at auction. The dagger, the only one of Lawrence's three Arabian blades known to survive in private hands, is to be sold by Christie's for an estimated £90,000. The sale will take place just days after the death of Sharif, aged 83, was announced . The actor played Sherif Ali in the film of Lawrence of Arabia, assisting Peter O'Toole in the capture of Aqaba before presenting the dagger. The ornate silver-gilt mounted Arab Jambiya dagger In reality, the ornate dagger was given to T E Lawrence by Sherif Nasir, a real-life Arab leader who attacked Aqaba, and on whom the fictional Sherif Ali was partly based. The dagger, described as a silver-gilt with curved blade, 30cm-long, was left in the keeping of Lady Kathleen Scott, widow of Scott of the Antarctic and later Lady Kennet, who sculpted Lawrence in February 1921.
