Good points Iain, and good note on the pre 1872 Clauberg with this kind of fuller. It seems that the ricasso presence would most likely be with the type blades destined for the regulation military pattern swords for which Solingen was a primary source. These were of course for numerous countries and the ricasso along with other particular blade features were probably set with the type swords they were intended for.
If there were blanks fashioned for native commerce they would not have had to meet such stringent requirements, and as they were not exactly of the regular standards makers may have left them unmarked. These perspectives are of course purely speculative, especially as we presume all trade blades were usually marked and of higher quality in accord with the product standards long in place.
If I understand correctly, the advent of the Industrial Revolution brought more production for many types of materials, including of course sword blades, and production volume in various countries detracted from Solingens exports for regulation type blades. Solingen sought other outlets to augment falling requirements for thier products and I believe began marketing into colonial settings among others. It would be interesting if we could find records of blade exports from Germany into colonial regions in this latter 19th century to early 20th period.
These type blades are certainly far from the triple fullered, usually thuluth covered examples we normally see from the Mahdist period, and which seem to have continued for a time during the Khalifa.
All the best,
Jim
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