Unusual Takouba or Something Else?
 

I worked in Niger in the 1980’s and became interested in Tuareg artifacts, especially their knives and swords. Most of the swords I collected resemble the ones I see posted on this forum, however, this one is a bit of a mystery to me. It was given to me by a very good Tuareg friend who was a minister in the government of Niger at the time. He said he procured it in Tamanrasset.

The hilt looks more like what you would see on a North African dagger and the blade is thinner than that of typical takoubas. The double-edged blade appears very strong, is flexible and razor sharp. There are no markings on the blade and its forging appears more refined than most of the local blades I have seen.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Looks Like a Huge Dagger
 

Hi Panhead 572,

The markings on the guard are Toureg and so are the marks on the blade forte. The sheath is Toureg and I have seen Toureg daggers with similar hilts/guards. What is the length and width of your blade? It looks like a scaled up version of a Toureg dagger. Toureg sword blades are typically very flexible. There is an online video of Led Zeppelin performing Kashmir in the desert while a pair of Toureg men do a sword dance. While making sweeping cuts with the blade, the palm of the left hand is placed on the flat of the blade as a support.

Sincerely,
RobT

The blade starts out at 7/8” wide and tapers slightly towards the end and is about 34” long.

I’ll try to take some pictures of the whole blade tomorrow.

How long is the blade?

Pictures of entire sword.

Hilt length = 10 inches (25.4 cm)
Blade length = 34 inches (86.36 cm)
Total length = 44 inches (111.76 cm)

Another one with slim blade....
 

Found another one in my collection with a slim blade but traditional Tuareg hilt & scabbard.

Similar mix of styles but with rather shorter blade , 20th century. From a inexpensive picture book you can find on Amazon. "Tuareg Daggers & Swords. Jan. E . Culbertson, 2012"

Tim - it does look like a mix of those two styles.

Thanks for posting these pictures.

More:




http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=touareg