Kaskara with a peculiar maker mark

[werecow]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

On a side note to that I have always found it curious that the Manding sabers of Mali have that same flared feature on their scabbards. I have brought that up any times on these pages without response.

Yes, I've always found that curious as well! I took that to be some sort of selective cultural cross pollination, or possibly a case of convergent evolution as a tip reinforcement on fully leather scabbards (and then I got a hold of a manding sword where the tip had poked through anyway and a kaskara that had a metal chape, so... ).