Visayan sword? Identification needed!

[TVV]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Hi Teodor,

Are you sure?
Because I have seen such swords with nice African scabbards...
Who were copies of old Portuguese scabbards...
May be the link is the Portuguese, not the Spanish.

Best,

Given the evidence I am reasonably sure that the so called Berber swords are from the Dominican republic, absolutely. The similarities between scabbards from Western Africa and the Caribbean are not surprising given the large number of African slaves who were shipped to the West Indies over a period of a few centuries.

I am not sure how the Berber attribution started: I suspect it may have been Tirri's notoriously erroneous catalog. I am yet to see any evidence which shows these swords in a North African context.

On the other hand we have a sword with attribution in the Toledo Museo del Ejercito and a few swords with inscriptions in Spanish on the blade which reference the Dominican Republic or parts of it.

Regards,
Teodor