"Nimcha blades" on European swords

[TVV]

The question of where European blades came to Morocco is hard to answer in a succinct manner, because there is a great variety of blades with Moroccan hilts.

Here is one with what looks like a European cavalry blade from the second half of the 19th century. Such patterns seem to have been quite popular in Morocco in the late 19th, early 20th century. But pinpointing a specific European model is hard, and one may not even exist, with this blade simply made in a certain style and meant to be exported to North Africa:


Then here is another one, with what looks like a blade taken from an 18th century British hanger, with the running fox mark associated with bladesmiths working in Birmingham:



Finally, here is one with a shortened backsword blade with astral marking, associated with 18th century Solingen production. I have seen similar markings on Austrian hussar sabers, but being focused on African Islamic arms and not on European ones I would actually struggle to come up with an image of a European backsword with these markings:



It seems that there was a market in Morocco for all kinds of blades that had become obsolete or surplus in Europe, some of which continued further on trade routes to the Sahel, while others were kept and mounted locally.

[10thRoyal]

Whelp, it took me far too long but I think I found at least one match. I found matching blades on a nimcha and on shell guard hanger sword from an auction at Cohen's a while back. After finding this find I took a look at Newmuen's "tSwords & blades of the American Revolution" and was pleasantly surprised to see a ton of three fuller blades that would not at all look out of place on a later nimcha.

So here is what I found:
This nimcha's blade:

Seems to be a dead ringer for this hanger blade:

[SidJ]

Here is mine with markings with 3 crowns and LONDON stamped under. 4 fullers too with a nice hilt with silver decoration. Any thoughts on this including origin and age?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by SidJ

Here is mine with markings with 3 crowns and LONDON stamped under. 4 fullers too with a nice hilt with silver decoration. Any thoughts on this including origin and age?

This is a most unusual blade, and certainly appears German of 18th century, probably latter. The marking is one of the most curious anomalies I have seen and would appear to be a native application imitating it would appear markings perhaps on British gun locks.
The crown of course was placed singly on inspection stamps, never in three, and the placement of this device is in the manner seen on blades of the nimchas in Algerian context. Briggs was in Algeria and this seems like the illustration in his 1965 article as far as position, but more to the forte on the cutting side of blade.

As England did not export blades in these times, the LONDON would be an oddity especially with the crowns. This is mindful of the placement of the bushy tail fox on blades however, but again, no such British mark exists as far as I have known. Fascinating!!!

[SidJ]

Thanks Jeff
Are the 4 fullers German too or added on later in Algeria? The London font seems european in style and looks stamped in. It might have been how the algerians did it, but I have no idea. Its a solid sword for sure.

[SidJ]

Sorry Jim
I really need glasses...

[Jim McDougall]

No problem Sidj,
The fullers are not something that can be added in, and four is an unusual number, usually three in multifullers.
The font with serifs is indeed European, but as I say, it is entirely atypical to have LONDON stamped alone and in this manner on the blade.

The long enduring situation with blades coming into the ports along the North African littoral would bring them from numbers of sources, but German, as invariably the case, predominated the markets. Ironically, British blades were not in especially high esteem, so this seems odd. The only exception was with of course ANDREA FERARA, which was associated with the Scots, but with these blades in their own league as far as quality perception.

It would be hard to say, but safely we can presume your nimcha was hilted in 19th century possibly mid or earlier, but with these produced holding to the traditional form for virtually centuries who knows? These blades were in circulation for as many years in many cases, and swords remounted many times through generations.