Noth African sword

[Iain]

Originally Posted by blue lander

The seller described it as an Asian saber, but it looks too much like a Takouba style blade to be anything but North African. It's going to be awhile before it arrives here but I thought I'd post a few pictures from the auction.

Judging from the odd shape of the end of the blade and the way the fullers look truncated at the tip, I'm guessing this was cut down from a larger blade. The handle looks like it's riveted on, which is odd. Since the fullers look forged and the moon and crosses on the blade look stamped, is it safe to assume this was a European blade made for export to North Africa?

This does indeed look like a European blade with good age to it. The hilt style is from Berber north Africa, Tunis if I recall correctly.

The maker's mark is a man in the moon with three crosses on each side. I found a Nimcha with similar markings, 4 crosses instead of three though, here

There's no sheath with it, so I'm not sure If it's possible to determine exactly where it came from. Any ideas? Or what I should call it? Was it a Nimcha at some point? Is it possible to tell where the blade was manufactured or how old it is? I got a pretty good price on it and nobody bid against me, so I hope I didn't get another dud.

I don't think this is a dud. I'd actually watched this piece for a few months as something of interest, particularly given the price. However it's outside my usual collecting area.