Takouba saber for comments

[Michael Blalock]

Sorry about the poor photos. I guess it's time to get a new camera. What do you think of this? It’s a Takouba, but also looks a bit like an Ethiopian sword. It could also be a mélange of sword parts recently put together, though the scabbard has wear from the sword going in and out that looks very long term. It has definitely been rejuvenated at some point in the not too distant past though, judging from the leather wrap on the grip. That’s an unusually long grip, isn’t it? I can almost get two hands on it.

[colin henshaw]

Hi Michael

Its very unusual - I've never seen a handle like that before on a takouba.

Regards

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Michael,
This interesting item is indeed Saharan, and certainly a more modern incarnation of older components as you have noted, particularly the blade, which appears to be a 19th century cavalry sabre blade of hollow ground section, probably French but could be German as well.
While takoubas were typically of course with straight double edged blade, there were curved blades used as well, and if my memory serves, they were termed 'aljuinar' as per Lee Jones observations in research he completed while in the field in Saharan regions.

These curved military blades also became virtually standard on other Saharan sabres with those of the Manding tribes in Mali, which of course are quite contiguously present along with Tuareg tribes in these regions.

These swords are still a common accoutrement among tribesmen in the Sahara, and it is not unusual to see very old blades refurbished and in mounts that may not reflect entirely the traditional ones with the crossguard.

Very interesting piece, and good observation noting the resemblance to Ethiopian, although while such connection is unlikely it is an interesting note.

All best regards,
Jim

[Tim Simmons]

I have this Western Sahara sabre. The blade is 61cm long so really quite short. What is interesting which is difficult to show, is that the blade has a serrated edge on both sides almost continually along the blade. My diagram shows the cross section of the blade and a rough idea of the serrations, which to be more accurate are almost continuous along the blade.

[Jim McDougall]

Interesting Tim! The blade on that has a cross section like early 19th century cavalry sabres again, very much like that known as Montmorency, also found on British of latter 18th, early 19th. In West Africa, the ceremonial sabres known collectively as 'hwi' used in Dahomey (now Benin) often had a degree of serrated section on the blades. It remains unclear to me what this might be related to, but the 'zigzag' was a common symbolic element it seems.

From a more pragmatic perspective, many English hunting swords of the 17th century and used into the 18th had of course serrated backs on the blades, and these may well have been seen in the trade activity at some time.

One can only speculate what might have been intended, but clearly it seems a European blade mounted for local use, and may have been refurbished many times through generations. It was virtually customary to have blades remounted as they were passed on as heirlooms in many of the tribal cultures, or just as likely, traded or sold.


All best regards,
Jim

[Michael Blalock]

I was looking through some old posts and came across this image. The hilt on my Takouba must have lost it's guard and been re-wrapped. Some of the guards on Takoubas look more than two inches deep. That would account for the grip on mine being so long.