The collecting is indeed a passion Harry! and I enjoyed it for many decades but for me personally, learning from the weapons has been my greatest joy.
That is why I write here, because I get to vicariously enjoy the great items you guys find, and try to share what I have learned on one hand, but at the same time learn with you.........we never stop being students
I should have added an image of the sword form I was suggesting and appreciate being reminded to do so.
Attached is the well known British M1796 light cavalry sabre, and in the other image alongside the sabres we once regarded as 'Berber'. These so called Berber sabres seem to have been nearly invariably mounted with these British sabre blades, but as seen here, the usual hatchet point was dramatically reprofiled in an almost 'kampilan' type point.
While these are of course in no way connected here, the idea was to show the wide distribution of these blades. They remained profoundly used in India, where they were often found in tulwars, in fact often to the dismay of British cavalry such as during the Sikh Wars.
This blade may have ended up out of India in this situation or any number of circumstances. The modern rivets are not of particular concern in the Syrian type hilt (Robert Elgoods book you have there is fantastic, and great perspective on the British presence in Arabia I mentioned)....as these blades were quite often recycled as swords were remounted constantly through generations.
It would not be hard to imagine this sabre having been at a Bedouins side in the constant use in the early 20th century as these sabres remained often key weapons in intertribal raiding that was inherent in those days.