Takouba for coments ... and a question

[fernando]

This seems to be old ... i wonder if 19th century.
Blade is 82 cms long, 4,5 cms wide and 3,5 m/m thick. Three fullered, double edged, sharpened to within 15 cms from the hilt. The usual two half moons in each side.
Scabbard visibly original; pitty the end 'complex' is missing. One suspension ring and the leather baldric are home made.

Gentlemen, your coments will be so much welcome, namely on its possible age and provenance region.
Another question i have goes for the grip size. We can see often discussed the size of Indian hilts, namely talwars. It happens that the hilt of this takouba is so small that my small hand struggles to fit in its grip, having to acomodate tightly to its pommel 'shelled' curve; is this the intended idea, or were Tuaregs also a people with small hands? I doubt it though, as it seems other examples appear to have larger grips, as may be seen, for example, in this Forum Resource Site article. I also doubt it is a boy's sword, judging by its regular blade length; this meaning i ignore if Tuareg youngsters would qualify to carry a sword, like in other cultures.

Thanks in advance for your kind input.
Fernando

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