Ethiopian or Eritrean Shotel
 

I picked up this interesting shotel a few weeks ago at a gun show.At first I thought that it could be Ethiopian, however after seeing the inscription on the blade "VIVA IL RE," long live the king in Italian, and an Italian coin of King Victor Emmanuel III who reigned from 1900-1946 I reasoned it must belong to Italian Eritrean Colonial trooper.The Ethiopians drove the Italians out of their country after Adowa in 1896 where 15,000 Italians thought it was a good idea to do battle with 80,000 to 120,000 Ethiopians.
Holding this sword, which was strangely well balanced for such an awkward looking weapon, had the feeling that it would be murderous in close combat.
Another note of curiosity was the handle; when I first got it I thought it to be made of wood, but seeing the area where there is a broken piece, makes me think it could be some type of horn.

The decoration in the fullers seems incongruous with the workmanship of the blade. :confused:

Yes, I thought the same thing. Maybe they could take an Italian sword and reforged the edges, or perhaps it looks that way because of extensive sharpening.

Yes, it is a European blade that was reshaped/reforged into a Shotel.

The blade of this shotel was reforged/made of originally straight "saif", which was special made /bespoked (incl. the etching) for Abyssinian customer in Europe (e.g. Wilkinson and others, but very probably not Italian).

Emmanuel III. coin still does not mean, it was Eritrean. In Abyssinia they mostly used big Maria Theresia silver coins for such purpose, and it did not mean the swords were Austrian.

Empirical experience: Always, when the handle of such shotel consists of 3 parts, it was made of horn. One part - usually wood.

Best,

Martin

Hello Drac2k,

I think that this handle is worked from rhino horn.

Regards,
Detlef

Thanks to all for the very useful information.I am still not sure why an Abyssinian would have a sword made with "Long Live the King," in Italian," as they were usually in conflict.The Italian coin could be a war trophy, taken and placed on the pommel.
In regards to the handle, the place where it is broken, it is lighter and shows grain, which is consistent with horn, however, the color and the lack of translucency threw me off; could it have been dyed

I think the answer is that the Italian sword was captured or left behind after either the 1st Italo - Abyssinian War or even after the 2nd when the Italians left in 1941 . The blade could have been reforged locally and the inscription may well have had no significance to the new owner except as a decorative pattern ,

Obligatory.

Ouch !That's going to leave a mark!

In my oppinion the use of the Italian coin has a purely decorative role. Most likely the maker of the sword could not even read the latin alphabet but liked the coin for its exotic appearance. It could have equally been a Dutch, Austrian or even Russian silver coint but the Italian coin was chosen simply because it was available.

Marius :shrug:

PS: The hilt looks like dyed horn, not rhino. Rhino is darker inside and has a more fibrous appearance.

VIVA IL RE (Long live the king) was a common inscription on Italian blades at the time of the Italian unification (1860) and it refers to King Vittorio Emanuale the SECOND, not the THIRD (who is the one depicted in the coin).
The use of this coin and the Italian blade points to an Eritrea shotel, though it could be Ethiopian. Also, the blade is Italian, but it seems, because of the engraved decorative pattern, that it may have manufactured in Solingen. As a last comment, the 1780 Maria Theresa thaler (Austrian coin) was an "official" currency in Abyssinia because of the guaranteed high silver content. The thaler was minted for Abyssinia in very large quantities well into the XX century, and it has to be noted that thalers minted in Austria as late as 1950 are still dated 1780.

Thank you for the useful comments.The reason why I attributed the coin as depicting King Emanuale the third, is because of the Roman numeral III after his name on the coin.
One can also see that the coin is a later replacement for what would have been a dome like cap on the pommel.

This was a great thread, very informative! but it sure seems like a lot of work to take a regular blade and rework it into a curved blade like this. Maybe its really not, but sure seems that way to me.

I have only a shotel, and a gurade shown here for comparison, and since they have basically the same type hilt, why would the effort be made to rework a blade into sickle type? unless of course it was a heirloom or trophy blade, but there again, why?

OP Blade could have originally been double edged, so they made it into a shotel. If itr had been single edged, they'd make it into a gurade.