Silver Hilted Kaskara for comment

[Wisram]

Hello
I am a new member but a long time knife enthusiast.
I recently got this Kaskara sword that apparently was brought from Africa in WWII and had since lied in a dark corner of the house (previous owner).
It is a little longer then 1 meter, blade has pitting but some kind of decorative etch can be seen on the upper 2/3 of the blade.
On both sides of the ricasso there is a stamp that reads something like "z3002..." or "zs002" I am not really sure.
I was told by a fellow collector that he suspects the blade is Ethiopian. Is it?

The Hilt is silver and so are the metal parts of the scabbard.
The scabbard however is not leather covered but some kind of cloth,
and all is left of the leather straps is a short piece.

I would love to hear your opinion on this sword and any educating detail you can share,
Thank you,
Wisram

[fernando]

Welcome to the forum, Wisram
and ... what about some pictures ?

[Wisram]

Sorry about that, I thought I posted pictures. Trying again.

[Iain]

Yes, that's a European blade made for Ethiopia. Not sure of the exact context of the numbered marking, possibly simply a batch identifier.

Nice piece.

[Wisram]

Thank you Iain. Any way to estimate the age of this sword?

[Iain]

I think when dating pieces like this, its important to make a distinction between the blade and the fittings.

The blade looks to be late 19th century. The hilt and fittings later, at a rough guess mid 20th century. But there are other forum members better at estimating that than myself. Ed is probably the forum member best suited for that and hopefully he sees this thread.

[Wisram]

Thanks again.

[Edster]

Wisram,

Nice kaskara. I'll defer to Iain on the blade. Looks old. The grip has a space at the top to attach the missing Beja/Hadendawa tassle so its from Eastern Sudan or the Beja parts of Eritrea.

Is the cross guard chisel pointed? If so and looks like one piece construction its was probably made in mid-20th. Cent in Kassala where it one-piece unit was developed. If its welded together it could be earlier and made in Sennar (on the Nile) or Atbara or Port Sudan area (both Hadendawa territory).

The scabbard has a different angular shape and not like those typically made in Kassala. Probably WW2 and later era scabbards had thin wood next to the blade, then covered with cloth and on to was usually goatskin. (Since at least the 1980s they have used cardboard rather than wood.) I'd guess that the goatskin was in bad shape and removed or may have been in a stage of rehab when collected.

Bottom line guess. Probably assembled between in the 1920s-30s.

Ed

[Wisram]

Thank you Ed for your comments.
Is the combination of an Ethiopian blade on a Sudanese Hilt common? Does it make it any less "Kaskara"?

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Wisram

Thank you Ed for your comments.
Is the combination of an Ethiopian blade on a Sudanese Hilt common? Does it make it any less "Kaskara"?

A good question, that required a somewhat convoluted answer!

First of all 'kaskara' is something of a collectors' invention. You might enjoy this article I wrote a while ago which lays out the history of the term.

Generally speaking the kaskara form, as with the takouba to the west, are defined by their characteristic hilts. As the blades were often imported and in a variety of styles a purely blade based classification is quite difficult. Local terms tend to exist for different blades, usually focused around the number of fullers, but the hilt remains the defining characteristic.

So, in my view, using a blade that was produced in Europe, probably under contract from one of the Armenian arms suppliers who were active in Abyssinia in the 19th century, to be hilted and used in Abyssinia and then likely captured and subsequently rehilted in the Sudan, does not make it any less of a 'kaskara'.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Edster

Wisram,

Nice kaskara. I'll defer to Iain on the blade. Looks old. The grip has a space at the top to attach the missing Beja/Hadendawa tassle so its from Eastern Sudan or the Beja parts of Eritrea.

Is the cross guard chisel pointed? If so and looks like one piece construction its was probably made in mid-20th. Cent in Kassala where it one-piece unit was developed. If its welded together it could be earlier and made in Sennar (on the Nile) or Atbara or Port Sudan area (both Hadendawa territory).


Ed

Hello Ed,
Interesting information on the cross guards. I would like to point your attention to a report by a French civil servant, Frederic-Benoit Garnier, First Dragoman of the French Consulate in Egypt, published in 1871 in "Le Soudan: Ses rapport avec le commerce Europeen" (The Sudan: Its relation to European commerce):

Through Suakin, indigenous merchants and some foreign traders, mostly Greeks, import (In Kassala) from Egypt manufactured products… (Follows a list of goods)… blades and cross guards of German manufacture. These swords (seifs) have a distinctive form; they are long, straight and double edged, reminding one of medieval double edged swords.
(Translated from the French)
Regards,
Andreas

[Iain]

Thanks for posting that source Andreas. Very interesting. :-)

[Wisram]

Thank you again Iain. I read your comprehensive and interesting article and learned.
Thanks Andreas for your comment.
Ed, Since I havn't seen a 3D Kaskara before I am not sure where to look for the "chisel pointed" form, it does have hints on both angles of the guard but
I add two more photos for you to see, if that's OK.

[Edster]

Andreas: Thanks for the reference to German cross-guards. That's new to me. Wonder what they looked like. The 1871 date could help date some earlier swords that we now have to guess about.

Wisram: great photos of the cross-guard. I'd call it the chisel form favored from Sennar. Not that it was made there, but likely. Could be fairly old.

Picture of the Funj sultan with kaskara sword from 1821 at the link below. The scabbard has a profile similar to yours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennar_...ennar_1821.jpg

Here's a possible scenario for the history of your sword. Blade imported into Abyssinia in mid-19 century and made into a sword of the local style. In March 1889 there was a big battle at Gallabat/Metemma between Mahdist forces (85k force) vs. Abyssinian Emperor Yohannes IV (130k force). Mahdist forces won and Yohannes killed. Along with Yohannes' head, your sword was taken as a war trophy. Sword was taken to Sennar, maybe 90 miles away from the battlefield and put into kaskara dress along with Sennar style cross guard. The silver grip is top quality, but the sword has been used over time.

In 1940/41 British and Italian forces clashed in the Gallatbat border area, and the reported (British soldier ?) got the sword in the Sennar area and brought it back to the UK.

Top shelf sword.

Ed

[Wisram]

Ed, this is a great scenario (I loved it and can't wait for the film), thank you very much and thank you all for sharing your knowledge and observations so generously.