Very old but simple takouba

[Iain]

This is an interesting sword I picked up the other week. Arrived in the post today.

Needs a bit of a clean for a few rust spots but overall in good condition, except for the leather which is dried to hell (normal for these).

It's rather short at 91cm, blade is 76cm.

The pommel style here is one that seems to be an older form, I've only ever seen it on swords that are dated 19th century or earlier. This example is iron (usual material) and has a repair on it, usual solder method. Small incised line decoration can be seen.

Blade is native made, plenty of forging flaws on display! But the flex and hardness of the steel is excellent despite the rough appearance.

Hilt is leather and brass, the leather design looks intentional, there is some wear on the edge but it seems intentionally cut rather than just having disintegrated off the brass. The cross guard is iron and from what I can see poking under the leather probably didn't have the full brass plate treatment at any point.

For me this is a nice example of an old, hard working takouba. Two swords with similar pommels can be seen in the ANHM collections that were acquired in 1905 from the Bornu region. The style of the blade and overall size makes me think it is quite possibly from the Nigerian/Cameroon area.