Euro/? Blade Double Use or Euro inspired?

[derek]

Roano,

Interesting, I see it. At first I saw that "emporer" or whatever he is and thought of some old roman coins I have, but it certainly could be an attempt to imitate the Menelik II or Haille Selassie's image on Abyssinian swords. Especially with the lion on the reverse. And again, the attempt to mimic the pattern in the blade fullers. Seems plausible, but now I really want to know who, when, and why......

[tom hyle]

Yeah, I see it, too, but I also see the part length tang with the big hole, and that's what I'm not sure fits. The transverse forged line at the blade base is seen on Berbese (and on Oceanic SE Asian) work. The three lines seem imitative of triple fullers, which are common and widespread, but certainly fit, and also bear a cetain vague resemblance to the spinal decorations on kodme (Berbese Mediterranean dirks). The human looks REALLY Afrasian to me; so that fits, too; the instant reminding is of ancient Egyptian portraiture, for instance; Ethiopeans, Berbers, Somalis, Arabs are for instance also Afrasian (it's a language group; that's how contemporary anthropologists like to divide humans up, usually). The lion reminds of lions seen on this forum on blades made in Europe for the Ethiopean military (yes?) market. Still suspecting it is NE African (Ethiopean, etc.), and the tang resembles short tangs of jambiya and some qamas/kinzhals/etc. that I've been told are the Persian ones. it's the big hole that throws me or that doesn't fit; everything doesn't have to fit, but I'm just saying. The placement of this hole would require a pin that would pass through the very end of the upper lagnet of a Turkic cross type handguard (ala kilij etc.) at best, or thru just the handle (whether there is such a guard or not), which is seen on some N/W Slavo-Turkic sabres, for instance, and it is a particularly large hole, too.......no solid knowledge on the whole thing, but that's the most mysterious factor to me. My guess remains Afrasian/Islamic/Indo-Persian, and most likely NE African; Ethiopea being kind of most suggested. Of course, there's still nothing to rule out it being European neoclassicism or orientalism or whatnot, except that while the big hole in the tang doesn't seem Afrasian, the weld at the base of the tang doesn't seem like (modern) European cutler work, though in decorative arts....Advice? Try to find/specifically identify the patterns to some cultural context. Is it now or has it been sharp? If the edges are conspicuously flat/squared/rebated that slants things considerably toward an art object/decorator sword/whatever and toward Europe. I don't imagine it is spring tempered, or do you check that kind of thing? Many collectors don't, which is understandable. I even broke a sword once flexing it. It was a bad sword; an European 19th c. wallhanger with a cast iron blade (it turns out ), but it was still not a pleasant experience/memory.....Roanoa's testimony certainly points us to NE Africa.

[derek]

Hi guys,
I'm posting these for Roano. Certainly does look a lot like this kaskara and the first example are cousins.
-d

[tom hyle]

Yep, sure does. Workmanship is identical, eh?

[Jim McDougall]

I tend to agree with most of the observations so far, that this is probably an earlier 20th century blade and Roanoa's Eritrean example kaskara is most compelling. The 'script' on this blade seems to be stylized interpretation much in the sense of 'thuluth' as found etched on Mahdist kaskaras, and may be intended to represent ancient Geez characters along with the apparant classical theme of the motif. The profiled head seems to correspond with ancient silhouettes on coins as Derek has mentioned, and possibly there may be some connection to some ruler of the ancient Axumite civilization that existed in Eritrea? The lion is atypical of the familiar and regally portrayed Lion of Judah seen on Ethiopian weapons and seems more totemic or allegorical.

It is important to note that in Eritrea the kaskara remains symbolically important as an element of status in costume as well as ceremonially used. A friend who is from Eritrea once lent me a video of ceremonial dances from his country, which was completely intriguing (especially to my wife who finally had to enter my domain to find out what in the world I was listening to! A variety of edged weapons are used in the dances, several of which the kaskara ( which is never called by that term, only sa'if) was key to the gestures and movements. It does not seem that a sword from Eritrea would carry Ethiopian references despite the numbers of former Ethiopian population.

Best regards,
Jim

[Craig Johnson]

Hello All

Thanks for all the info. Great stuff as usuall. Here are some details the fellow sent.

The edge is sharp, it has a great deal of flex, at the tip I'd say 3/32 thick and close to 3/16 at tang. The sword is sharper toward the tip, I'd say the last 18 inches especially.

The whole in the tang maybe an elemnet that was used for storage of the blade prior to hilting. I have seen it here and there on different examples of unhilted blades I have come across and it does work well to store a large number of blades in a small space.

As far as kaskara go I believe we have had one donated to the Oakeshott Institute recently with another piece when I have them cleaned up and photographed I will post for all.

I will also pass on the info to this fellow.

Best
Craig

[rdj2903]

Many thanks for the help on identifying this sword. It belongs to a friend of mine. I have told him of your findings, he asked me to tell you that it was covered in a very heavy rust we he got it, and he soaked it for weeks in oil trying to clean it up.