clunker saif?

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Richard,
Sorry to come in on this so late, apparantly I missed it

As has been noted, this is a Moroccan sa'if , more commonly termed by collectors a 'nimcha' (thanks very much Rhys Michael for the reference.

Actually this is a most interesting example, and as I always implore, please leave it alone unless there is active rust. These weapons were often refurbished numerous times during thier working lives, and sometimes the work of the armorers is amateurish, making it difficult to discern these from the contrived workings of devious collector/dealers. I always feel better presuming the former, and analyzing the example with the state it is in.

The blade on this, clearly heavily worked over, appears to be a 19th century military sabre blade, with these markings added by an armorer attempting to duplicate other trade blade markings. Most fascinating is that the half circle (sickle marks) aligned along the blade as motif in linear fashion is seen only on Caucasian blades of the second half 19th c. and typically attributed to Chechen manufacture. The name stamped in the blade attempts to say 'Genoa', the blades which were associated with the origins on the familiar sickle marks which of course are well known seen back to back in a single pair, not used as motif as seen here.

This may well be a tribal piece from the Maghreb, the rounded tip on the blade may suggest further into the Sahara where of course, these are seen on takoubas. It seems most likely to be a late incarnation, probably into the early 20th c. While the 'nimcha' is typically considered more of a coastal weapon, in these later times, trade routes and heightened tribal and colonial activity certainly increased the diffusion of weapons.

All the best,
Jim