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Old 30th October 2010, 12:05 AM   #1
stephen wood
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Default Mutilated Kaskara on Ebay

Just finished on ebay - textbook "kaskara fake". Langet sawn off. And with a classic "engmatic mark" too..
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Old 30th October 2010, 12:29 AM   #2
Jim McDougall
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Interesting. Why go to all this trouble to fake a kaskara? Its not like they're that rare!
Never did discover why the 'comet' marking that was supposed to be linked to the Mahdi's appearance was found on Taureg swords.
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Old 30th October 2010, 12:44 AM   #3
Rumpel
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
Interesting. Why go to all this trouble to fake a kaskara? Its not like they're that rare!
Never did discover why the 'comet' marking that was supposed to be linked to the Mahdi's appearance was found on Taureg swords.
East-west trade, across Darfur? It's the exact transverse of the salt/slave caravan route from Timbuktu->Khartoum, the sort of Sahelian Silk Road.

I vaguely recollect Mahdiism penetrating French Africa- I think in The Cross and The Sword...? I think even the utterly unreliable PC Wren creates a pseudo-Mahdiist scenario in Beau Sabreur, though he was writing for an Edwardian English audience.

Above sword was probably mutilated for a swords-n-snakes fantasy nerd, as if its actual history weren't interesting enough...
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Old 30th October 2010, 12:54 AM   #4
TVV
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Jim,

I think Rumpel is right - whoever mutilated this sword was not doing it to imitate a kaskara, but rather to turn a kaskara into a medieval European sword and sell it for a premium. Or of course, it could have been a fantasy larp nerd looking for a fancy prop, but they are usually satsfied with plastic and wooden swords and the modifications here suggest insidious intent to me.

Oh well, thanks for postign Stephen, and I hope one day we get an answer to the origin and meaning of the comet mark.

Regards,
Teodor
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Old 30th October 2010, 01:43 AM   #5
stephen wood
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...a very interesting mark - I had the opportunity to examine this kaskara from Anthony North's collection before it went to auction. As well as celestial marks, koranic inscription and a lion and o+ (very faint), there is, under the langet, a small "comet" mark. Unlooked-for and unnoticed.
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Old 30th October 2010, 11:03 AM   #6
Lee
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Unhappy Sadly, not that uncommon

Unfortunately, a lot of kaskaras met this fate over the last 50 years.

I had somehow missed the interpretation of this mark as a comet previously; very interesting!
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Old 30th October 2010, 08:21 PM   #7
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Quote:
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Unlooked-for and unnoticed.
...not unnoticed by Anthony North I'm sure...
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