A Berber saber?

[FenrisWolf]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Incidentally Fenris, that nimcha from Therion is indeed somewhat Napoleonic in that it is mounted with a French cavalry blade of Napoleonic period with its distinctly French Napoleonic scabbard. That, coupled with the persistant use of these French blades in the Sahara and the British cavalry blades on these sabres is typical of the instances we have discussed where the study of regulation military swords augments our study of ethnographic weapons.

Best regards,
Jim

Thanks, Jim. As a relative newbie to being a serious collector (as opposed to just being a dabbler who bought whatever was "neat") I know I have a lot to learn. It's one of the reasons I've decided to focus on a much narrower geographic area for the majority of my attention.

As to the blending of European military and ethnic arms, well, weaponry doesn't develop in a vacuum, and seeing examples where native craftsmen have taken outsider's weapons (whether from an invader's hands or an importer's cart) and made them their own is just one more element to be considering in studying the evolution of weapons. For example, prior to joining this forum I was aware that wootz steel was prized, but had never heard that there were some European blades that were even moreso. It's kind of nice to be going back to school after all this time.