Berber Cavalry Saber ??

[Jim McDougall]

These are truly intriguing sabres, and quite honestly we have been discussing them for it seems about 14 yrs now off and on. I think I got one of these around 1994 and at this time these were as far as I could tell pretty scarce in the collecting community. The provenance to mine was insisted as Atlas/Rif/Berber, and there were no resources to substantiate nor refute this.

Tirri came out with his book about 10 years later, and the Spanish Morocco attribution seemed sufficiently substantiated, though by this time numbers of these were becoming seen among collectors and research was well underway.

My example had the 'MANU' near hilt at forte, and as seen later, appears to be remnant of the Manuel Dega stamp seen on others later. There is no doubt that this blade is a British M1796 light cavalry blade as I once set the two together...the tip of mine is reprofiled in the curious 'boat prow' design that Rick mentioned. Quite honestly I was drawn to the Indonesian attributions based on that and some temporal association to these kinds of points on kampilans, which have also seen comparison in these discussions.

The curious hilt form is somewhat similar to the Cuban 'espada' forms which are collectively termed 'guanabacoa' from various sources and entries by former writers here. Some of these hilts have indeed on occasion been classified as Algerian, though I have seen them far more often in Latin American context. Many of these types of swords seem to have come from Spanish American war souvenier groupings and the fact that they seem to have various types of representation throughout the sphere well known as the 'Spanish Main', and from around mid to turn of the century.

The fact that these seem to have occurred in certain 'Berber' context and particularly in the Spanish colonial context, which does indeed include the regions in Morocco, does suggest that these swords may well have diffused throughout in these periods.
It is hard to say exactly where they originated, but they do seem to have a certain similarity to the Moroccan sa'if (without guard obviously) and using in many cases the British M1796 cavalry blades. These were present in Spain in some volume after the Napoleonic period, and as surplus probably entered the trade networks. The names stamped in period character at the spine near hilt (one shown is BREFFIT'. and I have another ISAAC) suggests this as well.

The protrusion on the scabbard tip has been suggested to hold as the sword is drawn from the scabbard. While this seems uncharacteristic, I think it may be considered in the case of Central American climate and 'machete' type use, moisture may impede withdrawal in leather scabbard perhaps?

It would seem to me that these guardless sabres may have originated in Spanish colonial regions, and it would seem plausible in Maghreb noting the grip characteristics and perhaps the guardless feature aligns with the Kabyle flyssa somewhat. These would seem to have been dispersed to Latin American regions, where they would have served well in machete type functions.

[M ELEY]

I am convinced that the blade on the sword being discussed is from the same Spanish (I'm assuming) maker that forged the blade for my Brazilian espada cutlass. Mine was a weapon discussed in past threads and the grip on it is remarkably similar to these Berber sabers (used to have a clipped point Berber, so I've seen the similarity up close). As all have already pointed out, Spanish blades undoubtedly made their way into the Trade routes, especially with coastal areas such as Morocco. I suspect that the design of the hilt was originally African in origin (Saifs, nimchas, etc) and their patterns were copied in Spanish colonial regions-

[Rick]

Possibly we should be looking more at the hilt/handle construction and form for origin clues .

My example appears to be layers of leather topped off with horn scales, and the decoration seems to have been burnt in .

They certainly resemble nothing else I have ever seen in 16 some years of collecting .

Then again, that's not saying much .

[archer]

Do the sabers with Spanish motto's, etc, also have the tapered tang? The Berber photos are a stretch, but, if you look at the shadows cast by the hilts, the silhouettes take on to my eye the proper shape.
M Eley, Do the scabbards follow this odd blade protected by wood insert and a layer of leather on the outside and only leather on the inside? More importantly were both tangs tapered? Do the M1796 British Sabers have tapered tangs? Thanks Steve

I added a few photos that may help on origins?

[M ELEY]

Every example of Brazilian espada/cutlass I have seen lack a scabbard. It could be that none survived or that they were never intended to have a scabbard (if a true naval cutlass, they shouldn't). Getting back to the scabbard on yours, my Berber saber had a similar raised 'toe'. The hilts on these are all very similar, of horn slats pinned together. Not to confuse matters, but espada ancha also have similar hilt constructions (horn or bone slats with a tang sandwiched in the middle with pins/rivets holding them in place. The tang on my Berber was tapered, but I can't see the tang on my Brazilian piece as the horn hilt fully covers it. I've heard the theories of m1796 blades being used, but not sure what their tang was shaped like. Certainly, the tangs might have been altered/flattened to allow for the horn slats. After all, many of the Berber sabers had their points purposely clipped to form a 'crescent moon' shape. I assume you might have already looked up the thread 'On the origins of the so-called Berber sabre'? Some very interesting info there...