![]() |
|
![]() |
#1 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 227
|
![]()
Just finished on ebay - textbook "kaskara fake". Langet sawn off. And with a classic "engmatic mark" too..
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 |
Arms Historian
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 9,896
|
![]()
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. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#3 | |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 63
|
![]() Quote:
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... |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 1,614
|
![]()
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 |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 227
|
![]()
...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.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#6 |
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 910
|
![]()
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! |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 | |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 227
|
![]() Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|