Takouskara

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Kubur

I can see where you are coming from, it is true that the hilt is in silver and the grip has an helicoidal design.

Then the sword lost her guard so it reinforces the similarity with a Yemeni sword but it is just because the guard is missing...

I know that the sword doesn't fit in "specialised collectors" boxes, so I called it a takouskara.



Please look at the scabbard too.

I don't believe in boxes for takouba.

The scabbard is perhaps not original to the sword. The chape is Hausa work.

The sword is not missing the entire guard rather the sheet metal structure remains but the decorated guard plates are missing. As I said this is made in the normal manner for a takouba, but the decorative elements on the grip and pommel are closer to the style seen in Yemen. That's not saying the work is Yemeni the sahel is a vast place with many intriguing takouba and takouba like swords.

This one appears to my eye to have travelled widely and most likely was collected in modern day Nigeria where at the time it was in a Hausa made scabbard. Foreign swords are not unusual in a Hausa context with many state weapons of local Emirates coming from various locales including Ottoman blades, thuluth blade from Sudan etc.

The place of manufacture of the hilt was likely not within the usually encountered centers in Hausa states or in a Bornu or Tuareg context.