Well I'm beginning to feel a bit thick...
I remember now why parts of the decorative elements on this sword felt familiar.
I used to own a cast hilt takouba with some similar "loop" patterns.
Images below. It's not an exact match, but this is closer in decorative style than to the more typical Hausa/Nupe brass work I think.
The sword shown was discussed before on the forum and all of us sorted of leaned something a bit more west Africa like Yoruba.
If we use this as a base and start looking towards the Yoruba things get interesting. According to Smith's
Yoruba Armament:
Quote:
SWORDS
The primary armament of the Yoruba armies before the general introduc-
tion of firearms consisted of swords, spears, and bows and arrows, re-
sembling in this the armies of the Guinea coast at the end of the seventeenth
century described by Dapper and Bosman. There seems to have been
little or no differentiation between cavalry and infantry weapons, though
swords and bows would have been more effective in dismounted action
than from the horses.
The pattern of two-edged straight or gently tapering sword, characteristic
of the Middle Ages in Europe and in Islamic countries, and well-known in
northern Nigeria, was evidently common among the Yoruba; such
swords, about 3 ft. long, were observed as still in use by members of the
Egba army in I86I.
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So, Yoruba were takouba users (something that had simply slipped my mind) and the decorative patterns seen on the silver hilted takouba seem to be a possible fit within Yoruba styles.
The lion mark also plays well into a Yoruba context with the lion being a symbol of royalty among the Yoruba.
I'm also including an engraving of a Yoruba trader circa 1890-93 who seems to be carrying a takouba!
Any thoughts?