Kaskara with Arabic "seal" stamp

Iain · 25th October 2011, 07:42 PM

Someone call me?

Honestly Stephen has a lot more experience with kaskara than I do, so if he says it's a European trade blade I believe him. The style of cross guard certainly matches with an old sword.

Wood is in surprisingly good shape.

About the stamp, I was half hoping the translation would give a place rather than a name. The name I assume has nothing to give a regional clue? As I understand it Dawud is the Arabic version of David, so probably quite common, Ali of course is a very common name as well in the Sudan.

So, I don't think it's an armoury stamp. I'm wondering if some enterprising merchant stamped a batch of blades he imported or bought up? Would be a decent marketing trick perhaps, as in "I have a Dawud Ali blade and it works great! You should go get one as well!".

That's about the only thing I can think of. As Norman points out, I really doubt this was a one off.

Cheers,

Iain

25th October 2011, 07:42 PM	#4
Iain Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Olomouc Posts: 1,717	Someone call me? Honestly Stephen has a lot more experience with kaskara than I do, so if he says it's a European trade blade I believe him. The style of cross guard certainly matches with an old sword. Wood is in surprisingly good shape. About the stamp, I was half hoping the translation would give a place rather than a name. The name I assume has nothing to give a regional clue? As I understand it Dawud is the Arabic version of David, so probably quite common, Ali of course is a very common name as well in the Sudan. So, I don't think it's an armoury stamp. I'm wondering if some enterprising merchant stamped a batch of blades he imported or bought up? Would be a decent marketing trick perhaps, as in "I have a Dawud Ali blade and it works great! You should go get one as well!". That's about the only thing I can think of. As Norman points out, I really doubt this was a one off. Cheers, Iain