A little Sahel/Maghreb panoply...

[AhmedH]

Originally Posted by Iain

Thanks for your interest Ahmed.

Dating takouba is not an exact science. Very little to know pictorial evidence exists before the 19th century and accounts form travelers to these regions may mention swords, but almost never describe their appearance.

Examples with firm collection dates are not available before the early 19th century as well, due to the colonial campaigns within these areas.

That being said, many blades can be dated to some degree if they are European in origin and generally speaking hilts an be dated early to pre 19th century, or after.

In terms of blades I have an example from the mid 14th century, the mid 16th century, mid 17th, several from the 18th etc. So it is quite varied.

With hilts, personally I believe the style has remained somewhat static for quite some time, however it is very difficult to be certain how these swords looked in say 1650.

On top of that, blades were and are frequently remounted, meaning a blade and hilt combination is unlikely to be original by the time it ends up in collector's hands.

All the best,
Iain

Dear Iain,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I would be very much interested in seeing that blade which dates back to the 14th century CE, and compare it with other Arab blades contemporary to it. I'd also like to know how much these blades looked alike; from the 14th to the 19th century, and how they differed.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Best regards,
Ahmed Helal Hussein

[Iain]

Originally Posted by AhmedH

Dear Iain,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I would be very much interested in seeing that blade which dates back to the 14th century CE, and compare it with other Arab blades contemporary to it. I'd also like to know how much these blades looked alike; from the 14th to the 19th century, and how they differed.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Best regards,
Ahmed Helal Hussein

Hi Ahmed,

I'm speaking about European blades in this case. I'll post the 14th century example later. However it's likely North Italian.

The basic style of blades preferred remained fairly static, based on availability. Typically triple or single fuller blades. These were imported in very large numbers from the 16th-19th centuries.

[Iain]

Just a little comparison to show the size of a typical cavalry lance head.

[Iain]

Just the latest addition for those that find these interesting...

Took quite a bit of cleanup on this one. Guard has some damage one side, but it's been cleaned and is stable now. The entire thing was covered in yellow varnish...

Overall I quite like this one. The blade and pommel are exceptionally good.

[Mauro]

it is sometime that I do not attend the forum and I missed the previous part of the thread that is very interesting as usual when Iain is showing his takoubas. All the examples are very interesting and this later Takouba is really a wondeful addition to the collection. I agree that most probably it goes back to the XVIII century. I already posted a takouba with a guard that strongly recall this one and although part of the cover was lost there are so many similarities. Just to have an idea look at this post http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15322 Just putting together small information from different takoubas I hope, and I think Iain share this hope, to slowly reconstruct the history of takoubas.
The main difficulties is to have a chronological reference and the best way is to find a photo with a clear evidence of the characteristic of a sword at the time of the photo. The other way is to find a chronological indication on the blade such as a maker mark or a symbol. It would be also very important to have a very good description of the forms preserved in old collection that usually have a clear date of gathering. For sure there were so many differences from place to place, from tribe to tribe and also from time to time. It would be a nice goal to unravel it, at least partially

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Mauro

it is sometime that I do not attend the forum and I missed the previous part of the thread that is very interesting as usual when Iain is showing his takoubas. All the examples are very interesting and this later Takouba is really a wondeful addition to the collection. I agree that most probably it goes back to the XVIII century. I already posted a takouba with a guard that strongly recall this one and although part of the cover was lost there are so many similarities. Just to have an idea look at this post http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15322 Just putting together small information from different takoubas I hope, and I think Iain share this hope, to slowly reconstruct the history of takoubas.
The main difficulties is to have a chronological reference and the best way is to find a photo with a clear evidence of the characteristic of a sword at the time of the photo. The other way is to find a chronological indication on the blade such as a maker mark or a symbol. It would be also very important to have a very good description of the forms preserved in old collection that usually have a clear date of gathering. For sure there were so many differences from place to place, from tribe to tribe and also from time to time. It would be a nice goal to unravel it, at least partially

Thanks for your kind comment Mauro. For my part at least I am satisfied that we know more than we did about these swords. However there is still much to learn.

About your sword, there is also one other similarity worth noting - the use of green cloth under the guard, designed to show through the cutouts in the brass.

[A.alnakkas]

a very nice piece. Interesting how this blade style was used from Maghrib to Sudan and Oman... very well travelled :-)