Abyssinian shotel for coment

[Emanuel]

Hello,

I just received this shotel. The blade is about 30" long and 1/8" thick; the hilt is unfortunately a replacement and not very nice. Oddly the one who made it kept the buttcap.
The seller said it was a 20th century piece, but he had no idea what this was. Any comment on that? How late were these swords produced?
The first four pics are from the seller, the last two are mine.

Thanks for any input,
Emanuel

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Emanuel,
I would be inclined to agree on 20th century on this blade, and although the hilt is pretty amateur it is better than no hilt at all. The blade is very unusual for a shotel blade as most of this form are much more parabolic and the fullering is typically different it seems (hopefully Roanoa or Tim will say more on this).
During the latter 19th century and into the 1930's I believe, there were blades made in England primarily by Wilkinson Sword Co. of a number of forms, some including the traditional deeply curved form. It seems that by this time there was a marked preference for the standard slightly curved sabre blades mounted on the same type hilt as well as the gurade which typically refers to the military stirrup hilt sabres.

The pommel cap is most interesting as well, especially with the star of Solomon motif. It is known that in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) the Falashas were tribal armourers that were actually of the Jewish faith, and furbished weapons for the Amharic rulers. Obviously the six point star is found used symbolically in numerous applications, in Judaism as the Star of David and in other cases as the Star of Solomon, which is of course well placed with the early history of Abyssinia.

All best regards,
Jim

[ariel]

I am not sure we can connect the 6-point star to the religious affiliation of Falashas.
The Kings of Ethiopia were convinced that their royal line went all the way back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: they called themselves the House of Judah. The King was, of course, the Lion of Judah and this is the reason for their national symbol ( stamped on many a Wilkinson sword )

[Jim McDougall]

I should have worded that better the note on the Falashas was meant to note that is was interesting that they were of Jewish faith and that the six point star would have had considerable potential in Abyssinian historic context. It was also worthy of note that they did serve as armourers to the Amharic rulers.
The note on the Wilkinson sword connection is well placed and the firm use of the Star of Solomon at the forte of thier blades was key to the marking of thier blades, typically enclosing brass plug with proof marks. Since Wilkinson was essentially a prime supplier of blades in the early 20th c. to Abyssinia, the possible influence of that key marking on the pommel cap on this example seems compelling.
I believe that in Abyssinian history Menelik was the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and the Lion of Judah representing the King was indeed typically marked on Abyssinian blades by Wilkinson and other suppliers to Ethiopia including Solingen.

[Emanuel]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the response . I did not know trade blades were used on shotels, but I was aware of Wilkinson and others producing gurade blades.
Here are some shotel examples from Oriental-Arms and they look a lot like mine with the exception of the hilts.


http://www.oriental-arms.com/search....el&s.x=0&s.y=0

I'm not aware of blades being done differently although I know some have extremely high curvature.

Best regards,
Eamnuel

[katana]

Hi Emanuel ,
nice blade, I love the shape of these .... it is a shame about the hilt...but I think with careful re-sculpturing with a 'dremmel' type tool, ( like a small electric drill with various small cutting/shaping 'bits') you could make it quite respectable without removing it from the blade.

Regards David