A very unusual nimcha

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Probably the most unusual sword of this type I have seen .. its not a Nimcha because nothing like it appears in Butins charts and the blade is double edged, however, the quillons are clearly related and the hilt with knuckle guard appears to suggest a Nimcha style ...I agree with the thoughts above entirely in that this is a weapon made in a tribal workshop using various spare parts and a general plan based upon Nimcha architecture... the detail on the scabbard is compelling as pointing to Tuareg workmanship.
The fact is that Nimcha have a single edge and a heavy back edge rather ruling out this as a Nimcha but it is fascinating and quite amazing how the style has clearly been formatted on this Tuareg workshop weapon...


THERE IS A BIG "HOWEVER" ATTACHED SINCE IN FACT THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES IS INDICATED AS HAVING A TWO EDGE FORM AT THE START. PLEASE SEE http://nimcha.fr/N-introd.htm WHERE THE AUTHOR ALSO TIES IN MUCH EARLIER SWORDS GOING BACK TO SWORDS OF THE PROPHET.. WITH SIMILARITIES IN QUILONS AND UPON TWO EDGED BLADES....

That is a most interesting and salient point about the prevalence of the double edge or broadsword blade in the tribal regions of North Africa such as seemingly consistently found on takouba and kaskara. Actually many of these 'nimchas' are mounted with broadsword blades as well.

While it may be argued that it was simply the availability of European trade blades that drove this, the profound link to the physical descriptions of the Sword of the Prophet cannot be notably discounted.

The example posted by Charles in 2017 linked by Teodor suggests this was not a one off form . The obviously variant form of the guard suggests these were produced in an area outside the regular mounting entrepots where the volume of nimcha were traditionally mounted.

As Charles well noted in his thread of 2017, the scabbard is indeed with the characteristics of the Manding artisans, but here again, could that influence have carried into the Sahara in the broad Tuareg sphere in the same manner?

It would be interesting to hear Charles' thoughts as he has clearly researched well in these areas of material on swords of these regions.