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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: USA Georgia
Posts: 1,599
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Just received this sword. Looks like a native piece to me. Don't think tourists would be interested
![]() I'd hazard a guess that this was carried by a common man, and it somehow has the feeling that it was important to him. No sand in it, however, I can see it next to some desert tribesman. 38.5 inches long, either with or without scabbard ![]() Curious in that it is not sharp except for the first eight inches from the point. ![]() Impressions? Last edited by Bill Marsh; 6th March 2008 at 01:55 PM. |
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#2 |
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 909
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An Omani kattara perhaps?
I like it too! |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Greenville, NC
Posts: 1,855
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Looks to be a remarkably crude...and sadly...just plain ugly...Omani kattara. I betting this "wrap"(especially the hilt) is much later than the original fittings OR is the underlining to the original leather.
Here is what it more likely orginally looked like.(Example from Artzi's site) |
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#4 | |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: USA Georgia
Posts: 1,599
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![]() Quote:
![]() ![]() Well, on looking at the pictures again, it ain't the prettiest sword in the world! But I still like it. |
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#5 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Greenville, NC
Posts: 1,855
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....sorry....maybe better words would have been "stripped of it original lustre".
I have seen several(at least 3) of these recovered with an equally unattractive rawhide type leather...the whole thing would be covered up, metal fittings and all...I never could quite figure out why. NO worries Bill....you have no monopoly on "ugly lovables"....I think we all have a few like that in our collections. |
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#6 | |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: USA Georgia
Posts: 1,599
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#7 |
(deceased)
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: OKLAHOMA, USA
Posts: 3,138
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BEWARE!!! THIS IS UNDOUTABLY THE SWORD OF KARIS WHICH WAS STOLDEN FROM HIS TOMB IN EGYPT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. HE HAS BEEN STUMBELING AROUND EVER SINCE LOOKING FOR HIS MUMMY'S SWORD
![]() WHEN KARIS WAS WRAPPED UP THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO THEY USED SOME OF THE SAME WRAP FOR HIS SWORD SO IT WOULD MATCH HIS OUTFIT. SO IF YOU HEAR A DRAGGING NOISE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND SEE A SHADOW WITH ONE ARM STUCK OUT IN FRONT RUN ![]() NOW YOU HAVE A STORY TO GO WITH THE NEAT SWORD ![]() |
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#8 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,818
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My thoughts on coverings of these African swords is that the steel would get extremely hot under the African sun, I don't think I could wield comfortably a sword that has been sitting in 40 degree plus heat all day, chances are that your hands would first reach for the steel pommel before being drawn and if it had a guard fingers would get burnt there too upon gripping the blade.... regards Gav |
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#9 | |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 675
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Hi Gavin,
Quote:
Cheers Chris PS What happened to your king sized navaja? |
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#10 |
Arms Historian
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 9,875
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I'm completely on board with Lee and Charles in that this seems likely to be Omani, and is most likely, as noted, a rugged piece carried by a tribesman. While this one certainly carries none of the attractiveness of the examples from Oman as seen on Artzis site, it is definitely loaded with desert charm and perhaps mystery.
While this has appearances of the kattara, especially in the guardless hilt, and has a blade typical of kaskaras, seen also on the Omani kattaras, there are elements that do bring this to North Africa. The presence of reptile skin is one, but also the blade tip is sharpened to a spear type point, contrary to the somewhat spatulate tips on kattaras. The rugged cloth wrapping suggests many desert weapons carried by tribes of Bedouin . I have always considered the unusual guardless sabres of the Manding, found primarily in Mali, to be possibly associated to the Omani kattara at least nominally owing to the hilt. The trade routes of the Sahara clearly diffused both cultural elements as well as weaponry across North Africa, which clearly has included forms from as far as Zanzibar, through Ethiopia and points through and beyond. The Omani Sultanate at Zanzibar was of course one of the key trade centers throughout the 19th century, and I strongly believe the weapon forms, especially the kattara, found thier way into both Red Sea trade routes in the maritime sense, and into the Sudan, Sahara as well. Since this was typically not of course, a singular push of that entire distance, but the result of tribal interface and trade at given point, these weapons might well have come into Bedouin hands, or certainly influenced the tribesmen. There is the mystery..at what point in North Africa, and by what tribal group, would this interpretive kattara have become incarnate? By appearance it seems somewhat Bedouin, the reptile skin suggests the Sudan, and the shape and style of the hilt suggests anything from Oman itself to Mali. It should be noted that cylindrical hilts, however with a pommel, carrying kaskara form blades are also known in West Africa as far as Sierra Leone. A very interesting piece, definitely has charisma! All the best, Jim |
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