Mossi sword

Mauro · 19th October 2011, 07:07 PM

I recently bouth this sword that the seller attributed to the Mossi because it was stored together with other Mossi items. I am not familiar with Mossi swords and therefore I shall be glad to receive your comments.
It is 67 cm long. The single edged blade is crudely made and slightly curved with a spine that is ca. 2 mm thick. It has an hand-made brass handle melted to the blade. It has a large curved guard that is attached to the base of the handle and ends with a curl that recall the military blades. The base of the handle is slightly larger than the rest of the guard and one side is decorated with few oblique lines. The curl has also some decorations in the form of nicks along the upper and lower edge of the decorated side. The guard is also attached close to the top of the handle which is made with the head of a sheep. The head is chiselled with the eyes, the mouth and the ears well in evidence. The black scabbard is made of leather and has the bottom missing. It is reinforced with regularely spaced rings of leather.
I found that the sheep head in some way recall the flyssa of the Berbers but I do not know if this is simply a coincidence although usually I never believe in coincidence.

Iain · 19th October 2011, 07:59 PM

Hi Mauro,

I think I remember seeing this sword when it was offered for sale.

I do not have many resources for Mossi swords. I had one takouba that was discussed and we thought it might be Mossi as it was collected in Burkina Faso and had an unusual and very high pommel spike. That sword is here:http://takouba.org/takouba11/ However the Mossi attribution was merely a guess.

What I do have are some photos of Mossi warriors. I have to admit I know relatively little about Mossi culture, they were a pagan kingdom on the edge of the Islamic states. They were often at war and conducted raids against the Muslim peoples, like the Hausa. They are also well known for bronze working and their statues have similar motifs like your sword.

So I would agree the sword is Mossi for sure and a nice example. What I am not sure is how much overlap or borrowing occurs with Mossi weaponry. The one photo I posted it almost looks like one man has a kaskara (on the right side of the picture) and the horseman has armour on his arms and what looks like the pommel of a Mandingo sword over his shoulder.

A very interesting and understudied culture I think. I found one interesting resource on Google books but it has very little about swords as you will see.

http://books.google.com/books?id=b56...=sword&f=false

Jim McDougall · 20th October 2011, 04:18 AM

It seems like this Mossi sword is most likely to represent zoomorphically the hornbill bird, according to discussions we had in 2008 either on an example identical, or perhaps this may be the same sword. Much as seems to be the case in these Saharan tribal cultures, the blacksmith/sculptors were a separate caste, and feared in thier mystery and secretive ways. Still they were instrumental in rituals and apparantly the hornbill symbolically represented knowledge of secrets.
As brass figures (these smiths were skilled workers in these metals as Iain has noted) were key to validating power, perhaps this sabre was used as a representation of either a royal figure or a member in the court. Brass hilted swords with European type hilts are known of course in regalia status in Nigeria (Bivar's work on that country's weapons). I very much agree with Iain, and there seems to be a range of influences in the weapons of the Mossi, and I have seen some rather large bearing type swords with geometric motif similar to other tribal groups in the Sahara including Tuareg.

Gavin Nugent · 20th October 2011, 04:37 AM

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=jackel

This may help in the discussions.

Gav

Mauro · 21st October 2011, 12:59 AM

Hi Ian, many thank to share the interesting old photo of the Mossi warriors. I also collect postcard trying to get visible information on these old items.
Also thanks to Jim and especially to freebooter that find the previous thread on this sword. Therefore after a long series of suggestions regarding the animal depicted in the sculpture I added another one suggesting it is a sheep !! It is also nice to realize how this sword was found among Dogon and later it turns to be Mossi. I really enjoyed the previous thread that unfortunately I had not see previously. I did not supposed that it was already described and discussed. Thanks to everybody

Iain · 22nd October 2011, 12:01 AM

I also didn't recall that other old thread. Very interesting reading.

Does look a bit like a sheep! But I'd vote jackal myself.

Cheers,

Iain

19th October 2011, 07:07 PM	#1
Mauro Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 83	Mossi sword I recently bouth this sword that the seller attributed to the Mossi because it was stored together with other Mossi items. I am not familiar with Mossi swords and therefore I shall be glad to receive your comments. It is 67 cm long. The single edged blade is crudely made and slightly curved with a spine that is ca. 2 mm thick. It has an hand-made brass handle melted to the blade. It has a large curved guard that is attached to the base of the handle and ends with a curl that recall the military blades. The base of the handle is slightly larger than the rest of the guard and one side is decorated with few oblique lines. The curl has also some decorations in the form of nicks along the upper and lower edge of the decorated side. The guard is also attached close to the top of the handle which is made with the head of a sheep. The head is chiselled with the eyes, the mouth and the ears well in evidence. The black scabbard is made of leather and has the bottom missing. It is reinforced with regularely spaced rings of leather. I found that the sheep head in some way recall the flyssa of the Berbers but I do not know if this is simply a coincidence although usually I never believe in coincidence. Attached Images

19th October 2011, 07:59 PM	#2
Iain Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Olomouc Posts: 1,693	Hi Mauro, I think I remember seeing this sword when it was offered for sale. I do not have many resources for Mossi swords. I had one takouba that was discussed and we thought it might be Mossi as it was collected in Burkina Faso and had an unusual and very high pommel spike. That sword is here:http://takouba.org/takouba11/ However the Mossi attribution was merely a guess. What I do have are some photos of Mossi warriors. I have to admit I know relatively little about Mossi culture, they were a pagan kingdom on the edge of the Islamic states. They were often at war and conducted raids against the Muslim peoples, like the Hausa. They are also well known for bronze working and their statues have similar motifs like your sword. So I would agree the sword is Mossi for sure and a nice example. What I am not sure is how much overlap or borrowing occurs with Mossi weaponry. The one photo I posted it almost looks like one man has a kaskara (on the right side of the picture) and the horseman has armour on his arms and what looks like the pommel of a Mandingo sword over his shoulder. A very interesting and understudied culture I think. I found one interesting resource on Google books but it has very little about swords as you will see. http://books.google.com/books?id=b56...=sword&f=false Attached Images

20th October 2011, 04:18 AM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,945	It seems like this Mossi sword is most likely to represent zoomorphically the hornbill bird, according to discussions we had in 2008 either on an example identical, or perhaps this may be the same sword. Much as seems to be the case in these Saharan tribal cultures, the blacksmith/sculptors were a separate caste, and feared in thier mystery and secretive ways. Still they were instrumental in rituals and apparantly the hornbill symbolically represented knowledge of secrets. As brass figures (these smiths were skilled workers in these metals as Iain has noted) were key to validating power, perhaps this sabre was used as a representation of either a royal figure or a member in the court. Brass hilted swords with European type hilts are known of course in regalia status in Nigeria (Bivar's work on that country's weapons). I very much agree with Iain, and there seems to be a range of influences in the weapons of the Mossi, and I have seen some rather large bearing type swords with geometric motif similar to other tribal groups in the Sahara including Tuareg.

20th October 2011, 04:37 AM	#4
Gavin Nugent Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,818	http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=jackel This may help in the discussions. Gav

21st October 2011, 12:59 AM	#5
Mauro Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 83	Hi Ian, many thank to share the interesting old photo of the Mossi warriors. I also collect postcard trying to get visible information on these old items. Also thanks to Jim and especially to freebooter that find the previous thread on this sword. Therefore after a long series of suggestions regarding the animal depicted in the sculpture I added another one suggesting it is a sheep !! It is also nice to realize how this sword was found among Dogon and later it turns to be Mossi. I really enjoyed the previous thread that unfortunately I had not see previously. I did not supposed that it was already described and discussed. Thanks to everybody

22nd October 2011, 12:01 AM	#6
Iain Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Olomouc Posts: 1,693	I also didn't recall that other old thread. Very interesting reading. Does look a bit like a sheep! But I'd vote jackal myself. Cheers, Iain