Hi Chris and Regihis,
On dates and blade inscriptions - I think these are probably references to saints or other figures, perhaps some events. However Regihis, I wouldn't take the date and the mention of the city to necessarily go together. Certainly I wouldn't interpret it as a date for the manufacture of your daggers.
On your second sword Chris - very interesting one! Reminds me a bit of this one:
http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread...hlight=kaskara
Returning to the thuluth theme...
There are a few interesting points I've been thinking about that I thought were worth laying out.
1. In summary of what we've already discussed, it seems that there are two distinct styles of thuluth applied and that distinction seems to be in line with blade quality. It was applied to trade blades like the triple fuller Clauberg blade Wolf has kindly shared in the past. Here is another Clauberg blade from Stephen, a single fuller pattern this time.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8269
2. The stage when thuluth was applied interests me - on triple fuller blades with it, I have now seen several examples where the half moon stamps were applied AFTER the etching. This indicates to me the etching was not done in the same location as the mounts as I cannot think of another reason why the stamps would be applied after, partly obscuring some of the script.
3. Tribal attribution, I am aware of one period photo showing a good thuluth blade - it has an attribution in French to the man being from the Gāličh tribe - the photo looks a bit staged. I cannot find anything about this group, even what part of Sudan they were/are from? Image is attached to this post.
4. If the thuluth style originated in Sennar, it is interesting to note that the forces of the Mahdi took some time and effort to capture the town. From reading Father Joseph Orthwalder's memoirs of his 10 years as a prisoner of the Mahdia we learn the Sennar was more or less ruined after the garrison fell to the Mahdist forces. As Orthwalder puts it:
"All that is left of Sennar are a few mud and sand heaps, and its very name has ceased to exist, although early in this century it was better known even than Dongola or Kordofan."
This allows for the interesting idea that perhaps the craftsmen who would have lived in Sennar then migrated to Omdurman?
I am digging through more period accounts as time allows.
All the best,
Iain