The maker's mark sort of looks like that of a sword smith named Awad Adam who worked in Kassala in 1986 and could have made swords since the early 1960s. His mark was the Arabic number 40 (Arbane) and the sketch I made of his mark looks a lot like the mark on your blade, close, but not identical. Wish I had focused on more details at the time.
Dating Kassala swords can be difficult since each smith has his own style and may even change over his career. For example, your sword has three narrow fullers and the center one runs almost full length. I have a sword also with three narrow fullers, but the center one is only about 3 inches longer than the other two. This sword was attributed as a "Mahdi sword" by other smiths. However, other 1980's swords also have similar fuller arrangements. Also I have another with three wide fullers. One goes almost to the blade tip. It was made by Hussain Mohammad, a smith active in 1986. His mark has two straight lines with a protuberance in the middle that looks like a nose since it is backed by a round punch like an eye.
Also, different smiths used the same punches in different configurations to identify their work. Not all strikes were consistent so the two swords made by the same smith would look a little different to the untrained eye.
So who can tell what is really diagnostic of age?
Hope I haven't muddied the waters too much.
Ed
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