Nimcha markings

[Pieje]

Hi guys, a classic Nimcha with rhino handle.
...and a bunch of markings!

I read some old topics and it seems it's not easy to determine the origin of this blade or its markings...

[ariel]

St. Lazarus crosses?
Overall, it is safe to refer to this blade as “ European” one. Moroccan nimchas sported a variety of blades, with large proportion of them being locally made, as well as French, Spanish ( due to geographical proximity and the presence of French and Spanish armies there) and a lot of Styrian/German trade blades.

Inscription in the fuller is difficult to read.
In the absence of this info precise identification of the blade origin is above my pay grade. My best guess would be German trade one based on the “ man-in-the- moon”.
Rhino hilt is really nice.

[Pieje]

Thx for this info!
Here a detailed pic of the inscriptions on both sides.

[Jim McDougall]

The subject of markings on the swords of North Africa, from kaskara and takouba as well as these sa'if commonly termed 'nimcha' is wrought with debate and speculation. While we know huge volumes of European blades entered these spheres and trade networks for virtually centuries, it is known that native armorers became skilled in producing blades as well.

In the case of these triple fuller single edge sabre blades it appears these are a Solingen type which was produced from around mid 18th c. well into 19th. While as noted, native armorers could produce blades, the availability of incoming trade blades was such it became unnecessary.

This example is indeed 'classic' as it is among possibly hundreds of the exact form and uncertain of how often I have seen these markings in similar configuration. The markings themselves are replications of some seen on both German and Spanish blades. The crosses are sometimes seen on koummya blades and resemble old Spanish types. The moon is an almost fanciful rendition of the magic/talismanic astral types seen on European blades.

It seems that there must have been certain entrepots in North Africa which applied these kinds of markings copying European ones onto the blades which came in as trade materials, From there they went to trade clients and into the networks.

These nimchas seem to date mid 19th into early 20th c. and as noted exist in some volume with certain variants of markings on blades. Briggs (1965) shows an example of one blade with variant markings.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

It seems that there must have been certain entrepots in North Africa which applied these kinds of markings copying European ones onto the blades which came in as trade materials, From there they went to trade clients and into the networks.

.

Interesting point, Jim. In the case of the blade under discussion, maybe the letters aren't supposed to mean anything, like a specific name. Could well be that the workers at these entrepots, who may or may not have been literate, just put what could pass for Roman letters on a blade to add cachet to a product.

I'm sure you are familiar with the blades and, more commonly, barrels on weapons made in the Balkans with similar dodgy markings. Like badly misspelled versions of the name Lazarino Cominazzo. Or the cryptic sequences of capital letters repeated in sequential patterns done in imitation , albeit more crudely executed, of similar sequences seen in the fullers of rapier blades made by smiths in the town of Caino, in Lombardy. I've seen some of these letter patterns in which the characters appear to be derived from both Roman and Cyrillic letters.

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Philip, as you note these letters are likely renditions of European words, phrases, invocations, and often names. These phenomenon in blade markings have fascinated me for as long as I can remember, and the following is much of the perspective I have developed, hopefully somewhat accurately.

The characters, which may not be accurately rendered in the conventions of European alphabets, were probably of course simply meant to suggest quality.

As you mention, Caino was well known for lines of seemingly nonsensical letters, sometimes in curious repetition.
It is believed that this was a European convention of acrostics representing certain phases or invocations which had particular esoteric meanings.
These evolved in degree from combinations of varied religious applications including kabbalistic and often entwined with magic, occult and other connected symbolism including Masonic.

The interpolation of numbers and letters sometimes is involved as well, as letters may have numerical value, and vice versa, depending on the case at hand.

With such esoterica, even literate workers in Europe had difficulty duplicating these intricate systems of arcane lettering accurately if not properly initiated, let alone workers in other cultures trying to approximate them.

Good point on the combining of Roman and Cyrillic letters, and often even certain 'magical' symbols can be entwined in these kinds of groupings. It is hard to imagine what actual values were perceived by native artisans applying these letters and marks, but suggestion of quality was likely the end result sought.