Kaskara with a peculiar maker mark

[Philip]

Originally Posted by werecow

Ah interesting, thanks. I'm guessing that saber looks 18th century? How far back does the split fuller practice go?

Blades of this style are mostly associated with the 17th cent. However, as I mentioned the slightly-curved ones are sometimes seen on shashkas which for all appearances are 19th cent. It's likely that the style of fullering was carried over to a later period for commercial export purposes.

Which brings to mind a funny thing -- years ago, I had an unusual Vietnamese short saber with a carved horn grip including the knucklebow. The sturdy blade had the same fullering pattern, although I could tell that it was locally made because the bottoms of the wide fullers were flat rather than semi-round as on the European ones. And the workshop name, in Chinese characters, was chiseled on the ricasso! Interesting how these European affectations were copied by workmen in far off lands. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a matchlock musket from Tonkin (northern Vietnam) with longitudinal fluting chiseled at the breech of the barrel, in the manner of 17th cent. Brescian barrelmakers Cominazzo, Francino, et al. (of course, the Cominazzo name was widely faked on guns made in the Ottoman empire as well).

Regarding your question on the saber hilt, it is a style typical of Poland and Hungary from the latter 16th cent. until the mid-17th. It is an "Oriental" style with clear influence from eastern cultures. Later Polish hilts, with L-shaped guards or full knucklebows) gradually replaced these beginning in the mid-17th cent.