A dagger from Morocco

[tomato77]

Hi there,
and thanks for letting me join this great forum! I own of little collection of blades, mostly pieces I aquired on my travels around the world. There are a few pieces I cannot seem to properly identify and I hope some of you knowledgable guys will be able to help out.

The first dagger I am asking about I aquired 2002 as a young lad in the Suks of Fez in Morocco. The seller didn’t know anything about it or just wasn’t in the mood as he had to climb his highest shelf to get it down. There is no sheath.

The dagger is 46,2cm in total length and 19,7cm in width. The blade itself is 26,5cm long. The leatherworks remind me of typical (north) african works, e.g. of the Mandingo. There are three distinct rings left and right of the hilt and at its end. I found a picture of a Mandingo dagger in Uhlmann’s „Blankwaffen aus Afrika“ (2003) on sheet 2.14 that sports at least one ring at its end and at least comparable „disks“. The crescent shaped markings on the rather well made blade remind of tuareg works and generally point in the same direction as the hilt I’d say but that’s it.

Best,

Thomas