A nice kaskara

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by ariel

In Post 17 , the Sudanese holds a kaskara with a diamond-like blade. I have never seen such a kaskara. Have you? Artistic license was always present in iconography.

Also, I have read somewhere that returning British military personnel was allocated different space during sea voyage for the luggage, with the rank and file being the most limited. Not much diffferent from air travel now: coach vs. business classes. One can surmise that short or local market- shortened kaskaras might have been soldiers’ bringbacks.



Iain: as per Bank of Britain inflation calculator in 2017 it was £610.80. Collecting is not very profitable: today we buy kaskaras on E-Bay for about $200-300:-(((

Interesting minutiae!!
The 'souvenir' phenomenon gained great popularity after the Omdurman battle and Sudanese campaigns, and there was huge demand for these items by occupying troops and later tourists. I am not sure I agree with the notion that 'kaskaras' were shortened to make carriage more convenient for returning forces.
Obviously things like lances or such large weapons were not among things typically brought home, and I have understood that the main deterrent for not bringing coats of mail back was the weight. However kaskaras were often in shorter form as they were worn in a baldric over the shoulder and under the arm, much like a gun holster in modern times.

The purpose for this may have been for more suitable carriage in city or metropolitan settings, much in the way many Chinese dao are often found with much shorter blades in the same instance.

As for the items such as spear heads etc. Birmingham had long been a producer of materials for Sudan and in fact they were the producers of the coats of mail for the Khedive of Egypt's 'iron men'. They apparently were furnishing these spear heads for sale to vendors in Sudanese locations.


Clearly there were numbers of items which were authentic, but over the years identifying them has been deeply clouded by their diffusion into the realm of the 'produced' souvenirs.


With the artists rendering of kaskara, it is interesting to acknowledge Oakshott's assertions describing the many cases where kaskara blades were remounted into alleged medieval swords. As contemporary writers seemed to continually refer to kaskaras as 'crusader' swords (by comparison) it is not surprising an artist would render one accordingly.


On collecting, and inevitably selling of these, as with any antique or collectible weapon, their value is whatever the market will bear. There is no real 'blue book' on typically unusual items and each is valued or priced on its own merits and how badly the purchaser (collector) wants it. I learned that from the days I collected!

Just my take on the topics at hand FWIW.