OK, boys, I am confused.
This one just came, bought out of pure curiosity.
The scabbard's ( obviously new) motive looks Touareg to me, as well as the bronze(brass? damn, one day I have to learn what is what...) pommel with parallel deep incisions.The tang goes all the way through and protrudes a little (but everything holds like a rock).
The blade is native, straight and very springy. It is nicely patinated and has some minimal pitting, so I would guess it is quite old. The handle looks like Omani kattara, only with lighter pommel. There are heavy traces of shiny gold-colored metal at the base of the blade on both sides (wish it were real gold...
).
My question: where does it come from? North Africa ( Sudan, Somali, further west), or is it a variant of the Omani Kattara? Or, is it a transitional stage ( kind of fusion sword)? What is "gold" doing here? It looks almost like remnants of plating. I know that more modern nickel plating often has copper subplating; however, there is not a trace of plating anywhere else and the stuff does not look like copper.
Help me out!