Identifying/Conserving a Kaskara from the late 60s or earlier

[Edster]

Great to have another Kaskara fan on the Forum. Your sword was old/worn when it was collected, but it's hard to date; maybe 20s-40s. It likely had a Beja tassel based on the different shade of the wood near the pommel. The Beni-Amer people are Beja and live in Eritrea so it is likely from that group.

Regards,
Ed

[Pertinax]

Hello dbpro!

There were a lot of discussions on Kaskara on the forum. You can get answers to all your questions. Above Quick Links - hammer - Kaskara.

Regards, Yuri

[Marc M.]

Welcome, nice kaskara, the blade and engravings seem to me to be locally made and as Ed said well used. Rust removal can be done in a number of ways, steel wool, scotch brite and sandpaper wet or dry to be used depending on the resutment you desire. Afterwards oil lightly or use a mikrocrystalline wax, this wax gives a dry harder coat after drying. Leather can be treated with any leather nourishing product.
Regards
Marc

[dbpro]

I appreciate everyone's comments. I think I'm going to try the Rust Eraser and/or the Ballistol as suggested. I would be interested if anyone had any insight on the human head etching attached. Most of the rest I recognize from other Kaskara posts. I've attached an "enhanced" image that has been rotated.

[werecow]

Be careful not to overclean with the rust erasers (or with any abrasive really); they come in different gradations of coarseness, and while they feel soft and springy like a pencil eraser, they do remove steel over time.

BTW by sheer coincidence rapier's delight just happened to post another cleaning video about a kaskara just yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lua4UIGvknI

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by werecow

Be careful not to overclean with the rust erasers (or with any abrasive really); they come in different gradations of coarseness, and while they feel soft and springy like a pencil eraser, they do remove steel over time.

To remove steel with a rust rubber/eraser would be a challenge!

[Edster]

dbpro,

The "head" maker's mark was likely etched like the "moon face" to give the sword added authority of imported German blades. There are many examples on the forum. The #2 on this site gives some examples.

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23068

Best,
Ed

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by dbpro

I appreciate everyone's comments. I think I'm going to try the Rust Eraser and/or the Ballistol as suggested. I would be interested if anyone had any insight on the human head etching attached. Most of the rest I recognize from other Kaskara posts. I've attached an "enhanced" image that has been rotated.

The head on this kaskara blade is likely commemorative for Emperor Johannes IV of Ethiopia (1872-1889) who was killed at the Battle of Gallabat 10 Mar 1889. This was result of ongoing turmoil between the Mahdist forces and Ethiopia (then Abyssinia). The complexities of these geopolitics involved Great Britain, Italy, Eritrea and Ottoman Egypt and far exceed explanation here.

However the death of the Christian Emperor was of great importance to many of the tribal groups in Ethiopia, and the dramatic act of the Mahdists beheading his body and parading the head on a pike in Omdurman was long remembered.

The Battle of Gallbat took place at Metemma near the Sudanese border in March 1889. This is in the ASMARA region of Ethiopia . The Emperor was actually killed by the Beni Amir warriors of Eritrea, which suggests the possibility of Eritrean provenance for these kaskara with the head mark, however it is equally possible of Ethiopian provenance as they celebrate the Emperor himself, not the trophy element which was carried out by Mahdists.

These stylized marks of a human head are typically regarded as representing Johannes IV and these events.



As Ed has pointed out, the stylized crescent moon heads imitate the types of cosmological motif typically seen on many German import blades, which had arrived in considerable volume from 1820s onward and well circulated through trade entrepots and networks from Sudan through the Sahara.
I attached the plate Ed refers to.
These moons were seen as Ed notes to represent blade quality as on the German blades, which were highly regarded by the native people, but equally were deemed as symbols which imbued magic in the blades.

These kaskara were highly treasured heirlooms of the families who owned them, and were regarded as not only honorific symbols of paternal and dynastic power, but icons of the warrior exploits and history of the ancestors.

I trust this wonderful example that was brought home by your father will be held in similar manner representing this adventures in foreign lands, and treasured accordingly.