Another Colombian Nimcha

midelburgo · 29th June 2018, 03:07 PM

The South American revolutions cut relations between Spain and its old colonies for a long time. At least at the official level. UK would try to occupy the best trade agreements. I do not think Nueva Granada would buy machetes from Spain in 1845. I think they are English, too early for Germany and design matches the so-called "Steamer machetes". I think the government of Nueva Granada asked to have that imprinted and not the maker logo, because it takes its place.

What I see through the google images searches is that vikingsword has a lead in providing identities. So the Dominican swords now are Berber sabers as far as internet cares. Funny and scary. As I was writing above, this short living styles could last just the life of a prolific artisan, or small group of artisans and then just disappear.

The only way of being sure about the "Berber sabers" is finding them as archeological remnants. The Nimcha handle probably has been reinvented several times each century. It is a too logical design.

Guanabacoa machetes probably were fancy just at the time of the Cuban guerrillas 1888-1898. Then the style stopped being produced. On the other hand, decorative characters are not efficient, and possibly they could give better lineage clues.

TVV · 29th June 2018, 04:32 PM

Nice nimcha, which demonstrates the diversity of blades that were mounted on Moroccan handles. Considering that we have seen examples ranging from 18th century backsword blades through a variety of European hangers all the way to French cavalry swords and even one potentially Indian made blade shown by Ariel earlier this year, it is not all that surprising at all to see a machete originally intended for South America end up with this hilt. As European merchants discovered, there was a huge market for blades in Africa (see Barth and earlier French merchant accounts quoted in the Nigerian Panoply), offering substantial profits for what were essentially surplus and antiquated blades elsewhere.

As for the Dominican swords, which thanks to Tirri are still sometime erroneously referred to as Berber, I believe we have shown enough factual evidence that they are indeed from the Spanish speaking half of Hispaniola: we have a provenanced example in the Museo del Ejercito in Toledo and multiple inscriptions in Spanish, some referencing areas in what is now the Dominican Republic. The North African attribution is based on conjecture and Tirri's books, and unfortunately Tirrri is incorrect on many of his attributions and a very unreliable source of information (though a great source of photos of more mundane examples). There is a separate discussions on these swords here, in case you want to read, with the Museum provenanced example in post 56 and then again in post 85:

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10636

midelburgo · 30th June 2018, 10:50 PM

There are a couple of museums at Madrid where to check for weapons of those lands colonies of Spain in XIXth century.
The Antropology museum (previously Ethnographic). I remember in the old display there were lots of weapons, especially from the Philippines, now is much less. From Africa there are only Targui weaponry.

Now it is possible to do a virtual visit

https://www.mecd.gob.es/mnantropolog...a-virtual.html

The other is the Museo de America. The visit page is quite sanitized, but it is possible to make a search in a catalog for the pieces it houses. here:

http://ceres.mcu.es/pages/SimpleSearch?Museo=MAM

You shall use Spanish. For example "sable" provides with a Guanabacao machete.
"espada" gives 62 hits, specially krisses and other Philippine weapons. No Berberian saber. No Dominican machete (it was not a colony at the time of the museum formation). A few pieces from Guinea. Machete gives some hits. Cuchillo muchos mas.

29th June 2018, 03:07 PM	#1
midelburgo Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 263	The South American revolutions cut relations between Spain and its old colonies for a long time. At least at the official level. UK would try to occupy the best trade agreements. I do not think Nueva Granada would buy machetes from Spain in 1845. I think they are English, too early for Germany and design matches the so-called "Steamer machetes". I think the government of Nueva Granada asked to have that imprinted and not the maker logo, because it takes its place. What I see through the google images searches is that vikingsword has a lead in providing identities. So the Dominican swords now are Berber sabers as far as internet cares. Funny and scary. As I was writing above, this short living styles could last just the life of a prolific artisan, or small group of artisans and then just disappear. The only way of being sure about the "Berber sabers" is finding them as archeological remnants. The Nimcha handle probably has been reinvented several times each century. It is a too logical design. Guanabacoa machetes probably were fancy just at the time of the Cuban guerrillas 1888-1898. Then the style stopped being produced. On the other hand, decorative characters are not efficient, and possibly they could give better lineage clues.

29th June 2018, 04:32 PM	#2
TVV Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 1,660	Nice nimcha, which demonstrates the diversity of blades that were mounted on Moroccan handles. Considering that we have seen examples ranging from 18th century backsword blades through a variety of European hangers all the way to French cavalry swords and even one potentially Indian made blade shown by Ariel earlier this year, it is not all that surprising at all to see a machete originally intended for South America end up with this hilt. As European merchants discovered, there was a huge market for blades in Africa (see Barth and earlier French merchant accounts quoted in the Nigerian Panoply), offering substantial profits for what were essentially surplus and antiquated blades elsewhere. As for the Dominican swords, which thanks to Tirri are still sometime erroneously referred to as Berber, I believe we have shown enough factual evidence that they are indeed from the Spanish speaking half of Hispaniola: we have a provenanced example in the Museo del Ejercito in Toledo and multiple inscriptions in Spanish, some referencing areas in what is now the Dominican Republic. The North African attribution is based on conjecture and Tirri's books, and unfortunately Tirrri is incorrect on many of his attributions and a very unreliable source of information (though a great source of photos of more mundane examples). There is a separate discussions on these swords here, in case you want to read, with the Museum provenanced example in post 56 and then again in post 85: http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10636

30th June 2018, 10:50 PM	#3
midelburgo Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 263	There are a couple of museums at Madrid where to check for weapons of those lands colonies of Spain in XIXth century. The Antropology museum (previously Ethnographic). I remember in the old display there were lots of weapons, especially from the Philippines, now is much less. From Africa there are only Targui weaponry. Now it is possible to do a virtual visit https://www.mecd.gob.es/mnantropolog...a-virtual.html The other is the Museo de America. The visit page is quite sanitized, but it is possible to make a search in a catalog for the pieces it houses. here: http://ceres.mcu.es/pages/SimpleSearch?Museo=MAM You shall use Spanish. For example "sable" provides with a Guanabacao machete. "espada" gives 62 hits, specially krisses and other Philippine weapons. No Berberian saber. No Dominican machete (it was not a colony at the time of the museum formation). A few pieces from Guinea. Machete gives some hits. Cuchillo muchos mas.