A king among takoubas

[Iain]

My last purchase for a while turned up in the mail the other day. I have to apologize in advance for the photo quality being a bit below my usual standards - had to use my mobile phone this time.

This is a highly ornate takouba, likely from the Hausa or Nupe. These wide bladed swords were, I believe, mainly reserved for palace officials and guards. In these Sahel societies these positions commanded great prestige and the bodyguards of an emir would also often form the core of the heavy cavalry. These were also positions often held by slaves. Modern day photos from events in Nigeria and Cameroon seem to indicate that these wide blades are still associated with these positions.

This particular sword is the most ornate and massive one I have come across with a full brass plate across the forte. I have seen photos of a few more extreme examples with practically triangular blades. But this is certainly the biggest one I have that is still a usable fighting weapon. It is sharp, showing repeat sharpening and the edge shows signs of real use. Overall it is 86cm or 34 inches.

The brass work here is simply stunning, the pommel is a variant of the domed type with small stacks as well. The brass decoration is a mix of motifs often seen and on the back side of the blade plate some circular motifs that might be astral?

I am extremely pleased with this sword, it dwarfs the other takouba I have in pretty much every proportion. It is also exceptionally well made, the blade has good flex, the brass work is extremely solid. In terms of the workmanship and quality feeling in the hand, it compares best with the Medieval bladed takouba in my collection.

I've attached a photo for comparison with some of my other takouba - two with typical triple fuller blades and one with a "wide" (although it doesn't seem that way now!) blade.

[Gavin Nugent]

Wow wow wow Iain and congrats.

I have added one of the images you sent me a while back to show the type mentioned in context.

I look forward to reading your further research.

Again, congrats on a great find!!

A sword that will be hard to top in your collections and sets a wonderful benchmark too.

Gav

[Iain]

Thanks for posting the image Gav (and of course the kind comments).

That particular shot is from North Cameroon, where some of the traditional emirates are still pretty active culturally I believe.

Period photos of this style of sword are a bit harder to find, I have a few that have been posted in various threads before. But I have never encountered this style of brass forte plate before - only the more practical steel forte plates sometimes used to reenforce a blade mount. Usually the brass is just a little piece, or three pieces like on this sword: http://takouba.org/takouba42/ or this one: http://takouba.org/takouba45/

A similarly wide sword, although later and without the brass can also be seen in “Waffen aus Zentralafrika” also coming from North Cameroon.

[A.alnakkas]

What a lovely piece, I cant add more to what I said to you yesterday! ;-)

I would like to see our chat yesterday evolve here especially about the nicks on the edge, as you observe, it was not done in one random piece but atleast 3 others so what does this offer us? It will be certainly interesting to know that takoubas were used for parrying and that is also done with local blades which are often seen as inferior.

Looking forward to learning more :-)

[colin henshaw]

A fine sword Iain, congratulations.

[Iain]

Thanks Colin and Lofty, it's certainly one of the top pieces I own now (thanks again to Stefan for sourcing it and the other wide blade shown in my comparison photo ).

In terms of the wear and tear seen on edges - its hard to say what kind of use that's from. Contact with shields or armour, other swords, or just abuse after the items ended up in collections? In this case I discount the latter as the sword has obviously been taken care of. In terms of parrying, what we can see of Tuareg swordsmanship in modern sword dances seems to indicate this could happen. Although the shield played a much larger role.

[Iain]

I'd been asked on another venue about weights. So I thought I may as well share some of that here as well.

The big takouba that is the subject of this thread is about 890g. The more average weight for swords in my collection seems to be around 720g.

Another little comparison shot with the smallest profile takouba I have at the moment - which I didn't have a chance to weigh but should be under 700g.