|
|
|
30th October 2010, 01:05 AM
|
#1 |
|
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 227
|
Mutilated Kaskara on Ebay
Just finished on ebay - textbook "kaskara fake". Langet sawn off. And with a classic "engmatic mark" too..
|
|
|
|
30th October 2010, 01:29 AM
|
#2 |
|
Arms Historian
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 10,014
|
Interesting. Why go to all this trouble to fake a kaskara? Its not like they're that rare!
Never did discover why the 'comet' marking that was supposed to be linked to the Mahdi's appearance was found on Taureg swords. |
|
|
|
|
30th October 2010, 01:44 AM
|
#3 | |
|
Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 63
|
Quote:
I vaguely recollect Mahdiism penetrating French Africa- I think in The Cross and The Sword...? I think even the utterly unreliable PC Wren creates a pseudo-Mahdiist scenario in Beau Sabreur, though he was writing for an Edwardian English audience. Above sword was probably mutilated for a swords-n-snakes fantasy nerd, as if its actual history weren't interesting enough... |
|
|
|
|
|
30th October 2010, 01:54 AM
|
#4 |
|
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 1,647
|
Jim,
I think Rumpel is right - whoever mutilated this sword was not doing it to imitate a kaskara, but rather to turn a kaskara into a medieval European sword and sell it for a premium. Or of course, it could have been a fantasy larp nerd looking for a fancy prop, but they are usually satsfied with plastic and wooden swords and the modifications here suggest insidious intent to me. Oh well, thanks for postign Stephen, and I hope one day we get an answer to the origin and meaning of the comet mark. Regards, Teodor |
|
|
|
|
30th October 2010, 02:43 AM
|
#5 |
|
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 227
|
...a very interesting mark - I had the opportunity to examine this kaskara from Anthony North's collection before it went to auction. As well as celestial marks, koranic inscription and a lion and o+ (very faint), there is, under the langet, a small "comet" mark. Unlooked-for and unnoticed.
|
|
|
|
|
30th October 2010, 12:03 PM
|
#6 |
|
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 919
|
Sadly, not that uncommon
Unfortunately, a lot of kaskaras met this fate over the last 50 years.
I had somehow missed the interpretation of this mark as a comet previously; very interesting! |
|
|
|
|
30th October 2010, 09:21 PM
|
#7 | |
|
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 227
|
Quote:
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Hybrid Mode
