Makers mark on 19th century 'star and comet' Kaskara blade

[jaxonrice]

and some more....

[Edster]

Very nice sword and trophy. To put it in context, the battle was fought against Osman Digna and his Hadendawa warriors. (See Wiki attached). The gap at the top of the silver grip cover originally likely had the signature Hadendawa tassel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...l%20population.

Ed

[jaxonrice]

Thank you so much Ed. Would you be able to hazard a guess as to the age and origin of the blade?

[Edster]

During the early-mid 19th C. thousands of mostly German blades were imported into Egypt and rest of N. Africa. Traders brought them into Sudan. I documented some of the traffic into Sudan in one of my kaskara papers available on the Forum's Geographical Index.

Ed

[Marc M.]

Indeed a very nice kaskara.
Regards
Marc

[jaxonrice]

Thank you Ed. I have, of course, read all of your excellent Kaskara papers here

[G. Mansfield]

Hello Jaxon,

I do not have any new information on the enigmatic mark but I wanted to congratulate you on this exceptional kaskara sword. Attached are two other war trophies picked up by Francis Marwood Hext from the same battle. Estimates of between 2,000 and 4,000 Mahdists were killed or wounded, most of which were Hadendowa tribesmen.

https://www.the-mansfield-collection...-beja-hext-413
https://www.the-mansfield-collection...agger-hext-412


-Geoffrey