strange african short sword??

[mjamerks]

I hereby post pics of a short sword,on request by Ariel,who spotted it on my wall picture of the Moukhala.
I bought it once together with an old Nimcha from a old french guy,that had it in his family long time,this family used to live in the former french colonies in Africa.

The hilt is in the shape of a snake,and the blade is of the Storta form.

This sword was used as you can see.

I believe it is North-african with a possible european trade blade???

Never did put much attention to it,but I guess this is the place to put.
Overall length: 61.5 cm
Wide Base blade: 2.5 cm
Thickness blade base: 0.5 cm
Point widest: 3.3 cm
Thickness point less then 1.5 mm


If more info is needed,let me know.

Martin Merks

[ariel]

Thanks for posting it!

Doesn't it look like a a real naval Nimcha: the blade is likely oriental, short, widening toward the point. The handle is shamshir-like with 2 drooping quillons ( a la Algiers ).
It may, of course, be my fantasy, or the sword was assempled long ago from different parts, but the reference to North Afrika is enticing...
Another day, another mystery...

[ariel]

double posting

[Atlantia]

We've seen this sword before haven't we?
Wasn't it discussed a little while back?

[ariel]

Come to think of it..... :o

[Jim McDougall]

To me it looks indeed like a Meditteranean naval sabre, but more of the type seen in Elgood ("Arms and Armour of Arabia") in the first photos in the sword chapter. The double fullers are very much the same, but rather than being the distally wide tip, this has the curious clipped point.

We know many of these blades were European on nimchas, what about this one?

Here are photos of similar examples Ariel posted in May, which give some great perspective of these maritime style sabres. Maybe we can pick up the discussion where we left off.

[Gavin Nugent]

Welcome Martin,

Nice to see some new and unusual variety in the forum.

I am curious about the hilt on this piece, what material is it? It looks to be iron? To me it is Naval and of North African origins and despite the terrible condition of the blade, it is something I would love to have in hand for further study.

Gav

[Henk]

Just like Atlantia I had the same idea we saw this sword before.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11900&highlight=snake
It was brought up by Luc Lefebvre. But the discussion ended quite early.
Maybe some new ideas will be brought up in this post?

[fernando]

Interesting piece !
So it wasn't Martin, but the previous owner, who asked Luc to post it here for ID?

[Luc LEFEBVRE]

Interesting piece !
So it wasn't Martin, but the previous owner, who asked Luc to post it here for ID?

Yes he asked me for ID.