Seems to me that there are a number of types of thuluth to be found on weapons from this area. This example is very typical of the most commonly encountered. As far as I can see this particular type of thuluth with the kind of chain pattern around the edges seems to be normally associated with certain kinds of Sudanese weapons, namely blunt kaskara, knives and triple knife sets, and haldies. I do have a small curved knife with a bone handle with this pattern but this has a definite edge and is quite usable (edge could have been applied later though).
So I can't add much to the question of whether these kaskara are really old or newer (1900) tourist items. What I think we can be sure of is that they were not used as weapons. They have no edge, and if my guess is right no peg holding the blade in the grip meaning the short tang would not hold in the hilt if put under any real stress - at least my example does not as I found out when the crocodile held on to the blade a little too tightly
. They often also come with small crocodiles as scabbards which would be pretty impractical for daily use - e.g. legs would break off.
I know of provenanced examples dating to the turn of the centuary but not as yet before. I also have not seen this type of thuluth script on collections of arms with provenance from Omdurman or other Sudan wars battles prior to 1900.
All that said, it does not mean that these were not used for some other purpose or from non-Mahdist groups, perhaps used as status symbols e.g. slavers - but again why not decorate a real weapon instead?
Its still an open question as far as I'm concerned, but I guess that I'm leaning to turn of the 19C soldier's momentos. So it would be great to hear of earlier examples if they are out there and can prove this idea to be bogus?
There is one more interesting thing about the script. At least in my example it was translated to be repeated invocations of Allah, Mohammed, and Ali. The latter could be a useful clue since Sunni groups would not mention Ali. So perhaps this could be used to identify likely and unlikely ethnic groups as producers of these?
Chris