West African saber?

blue lander · 1st May 2014, 10:51 PM

The seller thought it was Tuareg but that doesn't seem likely. After looking through some threads here the closest I could find was in this thread which was described as being Manding. It's not a perfect match to mine but it's somewhat similar.

The pommel and guard look leather but they're actually made from some sort of waxy fabric, perhaps oilcloth or tincloth. I attached a closeup of the fabric, you can still see some sort of spotted pattern on the fabric. The blade is 56 cm long and 34mm wide at the base. It's 6mm thick at the base and tapers to a false edge towards the tip. There's no fullers, ricasso, or markings/stamps of any kind but it looks like a European blade to me. Maybe a briquet? The steel has swirl marks on it so somebody must have cleaned it harshly at some point.

1st May 2014, 10:51 PM	#1
blue lander Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 456	West African saber? The seller thought it was Tuareg but that doesn't seem likely. After looking through some threads here the closest I could find was in this thread which was described as being Manding. It's not a perfect match to mine but it's somewhat similar. The pommel and guard look leather but they're actually made from some sort of waxy fabric, perhaps oilcloth or tincloth. I attached a closeup of the fabric, you can still see some sort of spotted pattern on the fabric. The blade is 56 cm long and 34mm wide at the base. It's 6mm thick at the base and tapers to a false edge towards the tip. There's no fullers, ricasso, or markings/stamps of any kind but it looks like a European blade to me. Maybe a briquet? The steel has swirl marks on it so somebody must have cleaned it harshly at some point. Attached Images