Takouba with silvered hilt and European blade

[Iain]

Hi All,

Finally got this one and had a chance to take some photos (poor ones I'm afraid, its dark and snowing here).

This sword was quite a lot of trouble to acquire and I am eternally gratefully to the very kind chap who helped me out with pickup and shipping. Its had a long journey from South Africa and was tied up in my local customs for nearly a month.

Still the wait of nearly two months was more than worth it.

This is an unusual example of a takouba for a few reasons.

Starting with the hilt:

1. I'm pretty sure the hilt is silvered brass.

2. The decorative patterns I've never seen before

3. It is repousse, which I've encountered before but not with the metal raised to this level and as a central feature of the design.


Moving onto the blade:

1. European blade, very thick and pronounced ricasso

2. There is a lion engraved but not of a pattern I recognize off the top of my head. I can attach a larger photo if anyone is interested. The engraving does enter into the fuller (the photo sort of makes it looks like the fuller obscures it), its just a bit faded there.

3. On the other side there's a circle with a straight line. Sort of like a cross and orb on there's no cross piece. Both marks are carefully executed, although there is certainly some difference in style between the two.

All thoughts and comments welcome. Particularly if anyone has seen the hilt motifs before.