Salaams, All ~ Here is one of the very few paintings displaying Arab swords I thought it worth capturing for Library. I can see Yats, Flyssa and some sort of scimitar...

Information Description = Painting entitled "A Tale of 1001 Nights" Oil on canvas, 19'' x 27 7/8'' |Source = http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/databa...ge.asp?id=6674 |Date = 1873 |Author = Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Absolutely excellent input Ibrahiim!!! and what you well point out are the profound connections between symbolism, design and iconography in the decoration and styles in ethnographic arms.
In tribal tradition and folk religion there are many interpretations and perceptions pertaining to these interesting elements seen on these arms, and indeed many are considered in accord with western or European counterparts.
The cross as noted, typically is perceived as representing the four cardinal directions, and many symbols and devices have certain ecumenical meanings. Also, celestial symbolism is key in tribal folk religion and various representations in talismanic or allegorical themes.

A great book on much of this, in this case jewelry, is "Africa Adorned" by Angela Fisher. She spent many years in field work studying these very topics with the jewelry of these tribal peoples and shows the significance of varying symbolism and beliefs.

Another aspect of profound associations between material culture, artistic iconography and symbolism on weapons is with items such as rugs and textiles. One instance of this is a book titled "Afghan Amulet", and cannot recall author. It concerns a triangular shape used through Central Asia and its inherent symbolism. Also, Tarussuk & Blair, in their encyclopedia of weapons in the reference on 'flyssa' I believe, note the strong connection between the symbolism in designs in Berber rugs and the apotropaics on the weapons.

Also as noted, the crescent moon was a well known symbol long before Islam, much in the way the Star of David was in use long before becoming associated with Judaism, and the cross symbolically known long before Christianity. In most cases, understanding the application of symbols or devices must be considered in context, as most simple geometric symbols have far different meanings in their various cultural spheres.

Salaams Jim.. Shukran ~ Like the Southern Cross insignia .. This thread I believe points in several directions! It is difficult to say where it will turn next since encompassed in the mix are Flyssa, Yatagan, Italian, East and West Mediterranean weapons Tuareg, Moroccan, Algerian, Zanzibari and Sri Lankan swords and daggers... to name but a few.

I have looked into the library but I cannot seem to find your dissertation but it must be in archives somewhere ... from 2003...I think.. :shrug:

I hope we can keep everything under one roof so we can build a major thread from this foundation.

The book you mention is "The Afghan Amulet" by Sheila Paine.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams Blue lander... How are we doing?... Perhaps you would like to chose a direction to spearhead our approach ... pick a sword please ? Its your thread... :)
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

My head's still spinning from all the cultural context you've been providing Ibrahiim! Hopefully I should have the blade in my grubby little hands within the next week or so, and I can take more detailed pictures that might provide more clues. As it is, I've learned immensely from following this discussion and I thank you all for sharing your knowledge.

As a side note - I bought another African sword that looks to have a European blade. This one doesn't look cut down, I assume it's some sort of 18th or 19th century cuttoe or hanger. There appears to be a maker's mark near the hilt but you can't quite make it out from the pictures. Some sort of triangle? There may be some writing there too. I don't know if it's interesting enough to warrant discussion like the s'boula, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyways. If I can make out any details on the blade that look interesting I'll of course start another thread.

Probably should start a new thread with a different sword.

Looks to me like a variation of a western Sahara "Manding" sword, and if those are hammer marks I think I see, you are likely right that this one is not cut down, but a native made blade.

True - I'll start a new thread when it arrives. Doesn't really pertain to the matter and hand, I was just eager to show it off :)

Manding, Mandin, Mande
 

Salaams blue lander~ If you feel it has the slightest relationship to Moroccan Berber or Tuareg weapons then give it an airing and see where it goes... Its an African sword after all but...how did it develop and from where?..

The first place to look is Forum Library where you will find two full pages on Mandingo...( Just type in Mandingo )Whilst it appears that the development of the hilt was an African tribal thing it certainly has similarities across the whole vast region but in terms of blades where they have been commonly imported Manding blades are predominantly French but some are German...as well as the home grown variety; Simply reflecting the dominant French presence in the region and the effects of the massive German trade in blades in the 19th C. into Africa ~

So lets have a look at the web where I just found a nice article at http://art-of-swords.tumblr.com/post...a-sword-common

Quote." The Mandingo Sword. The Mandingo is a sword common for the region of Africa. African swords were developed in different countries and different ethnic groups in Africa as war, hunting, cultural and ethical weapon and used. The actual name of the weapon is a expression of this type of weapon, with a particular ethnic group is assigned.

The Mandingo sword has a curved, single edged blade with and overall length of about 78 cm. The blade does not have a central ridge or hollow ground. This part of the sword is narrower in the middle and is slightly rounded. The booklet has no parry while the hilt is covered with wood and copper. The knob is designed as a ball.

These weapons are well known for their leather-work and the work applied to the scabbards. The iron work skills are less well developed. Many blades are taken from European weapons such as sabers and cutlasses. The beautiful leather work and the distinct discs and the guardless hilt, it is quite possible these may have diffused of course to other regions to the west.

While the Baule are a distinct tribal group to the west, it is important to observe that ‘Malinke’ is a variant term applied to the ‘Mandingo’ (also Manding, Mandin, Mande). In Fulani these weapons are called ‘kota’, this being the apparent term in Fulani for sword (probably generally applied).

In general, these remain primarily considered Mandingo weapons, and from regions in Mali. These were of course invariably mounted with European sabre blades of 19th century, and most typically French with the colonial presence there. Also, the Mandingo sword used by the ethnic groups of the Malinke and Mandingo".Unquote.

I suggest that this combined with Forum libraries superb details on Mandingo wraps this one up... Next ?

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

:)

:shrug: Couple of maps about now to focus the minds... :shrug:

:shrug: Khoummya

Salaams~ So I present the Khoummya of Morocco.

* There is a superb rendition on http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/koummya/

* Members are encouraged to type koummya into Forum Search for more than 4 pages of great threads on this subject.

My initial note suggests that this should be the easier of the group to pin down as we have almost already done so earlier. The configuration of the hilt generally follows that of the Genoui or Janwi of Genoa. Many of the swords and daggers mirrored in Morocco and surrounding regions are inspired in design from those of the City States of Genoa, Rome, Venice and Constantinople.
Khoummya;
Full length: 40, 5 cm, blade length; 22 cm

Dagger used by the Muslim peoples of North Africa, particularly in Morocco. Characterized by its slightly curved smooth steel blade, which is half edged, and four fifths counter edged.

The Koummya is always worn visible over the tunic (dejellaba), on the left side, hanging vertically up to waist-length by a long wool string (baldric), tied to the rings of its sheath. This sheath is worn with its point turned towards the front.

I illustrate below the link in the design of hilt between the straight Genoui and the curved Koummya.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

:shrug: Worth considering how these equipments moved over such vast distances...The Camel Train. :shrug:

Camels were able to eat and drink without stopping...and where permanent overnight facilities existed in towns and cities the stop over places or Caravanserai's were built with wells at their centres. It was not unusual for such trains to consist of over 1,000 animals which could deliver huge loads over long distances.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

The Camel.

The technical specifications for this "ship of the desert"; A 4 legged HGV, economical, environmentally friendly beast of burden, personnel carrier, heavy lift and purveyor of trade goods by desert caravans often in teams of more than 1000 animals. It can travel at 20 kph over considerable, grueling distances and barely does its heart rate increase. It can cover 150 kilometres a day and can carry a huge load of up to 200 kg. Remarkably camels were fed and watered on the move therefore big caravans rarely stopped.

Consumption; Very economical! Fuel capacity is either a couple of jerry cans of water every two days or 30 gallons about every 10 days to two weeks so long as it can nibble up greenery on route between times and the odd handful of straw and perhaps some "shire" or wheat from a canvass bucket. They get bad tempered without that extra supplement. It lives for twenty to twenty five years though during that time can give birth only about 10 times.

Remarkably a camel can operate hot… allowing its body to heat up to 115 degrees without sweating (thus preserving fluid). Peculiar urine chemistry 3 times more efficient than other animals allows them to limit fluid loss so that they pass urine far less in hot weather. Specially developed kidneys allow them to drink low quality, brackish, salty water often found in remote desert wells. Their nasal passages are so twisted that the air cools 10 degrees going in and dries as it exhales conserving water by preventing dehydration. The camel sucks in water like a huge vacuum cleaner and can ingest between 20 and 30 gallons in one session of a few minutes. Water is stored not in the stomach but in the tissue cells and blood. Their oval red blood cells can expand 240 times their volume. Humans are in serious trouble when they lose about 5% of body weight through water loss however a camel can drop 25% without any problems. They simply shrink. Their extremely long eyelashes protect them from the glaring sunlight and in sand storms they simply shut their eyes and can see through the lids! Built in anti sand storm and sunglasses!! Somehow they can scent water miles off and will make a beeline straight for the water source. Overnight at camps they can be left on their own untethered but with their front feet tied so that they can wander a little to eat their favourite desert thorn tree food. Given half a chance, however, the camel will run off!

The soles of the feet are calloused so they don’t get hot feet as are the elbows on which they rest when crouched down. Its teeth resemble those of a lion with huge incisors which are used to tear down branches of acacia thorn trees so that the more juicy leaves can be nibbled and eaten. The camel has specially designed mouth and lips to carefully and delicately separate thorn from leaf. Great care must be taken especially in the colder mating season since getting between a bull and a cow can prove fatal. A "Galaisa" or lead bull camel can be very vicious at this time.

Camels get sick for no apparent reason and can suddenly just drop dead. Toxic plants and bad water are their main enemies. After exhausting journeys they need proper rest since they have no mechanism for indicating that they are tired. They are extremely unpredictable and just when you think you have an animal trained it will run away or even try to bite. They are susceptible to fright at the least excuse and a seemingly subdued animal can turn into a wild, bucking, hissing, spitting, biting, mad, demonic beast in a flash for no apparent reason. The apparent lack of concern for their owners makes them easy to steal. Milking can be dangerous as the technique of milking is by the herdsman standing on one leg and leaning against the animal's body; made hazardous as the animal may then try to move or chew the person doing the milking. Mating often has to be assisted by the herdsmen since the male and female are very clumsy animals and giving birth is also hazardous since the newborn can be injured falling to the ground or being trampled by the mother. The male organs of the bull camel are also ridiculously small making mating very difficult.

Camel meat and milk is delicious and virtually free from cholesterol though normally young camels are bred specially for this purpose as are cows in other parts of the world. Camel meat is usually reserved for wedding feasts. The camel has more than 160 words in Arabic underlining its importance in the regions cultural heritage. The word Jamal can mean either beautiful woman or camel. Dreaming of a camel is a good omen. Bedouin are buried in the skin of their favourite camel to be near it in their afterlife. In mythology the stars are said to be grazing camels that are at eternal peace.

Without it the great Bedouin tribes would never have survived and trade around Arabia would have been almost impossible. The huge caravans of camel laden with all manner of goods would not have traded between the great souks of Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Marrakesh, Shiraz, Sanaa and Mecca to name a few. They were the vital transport link between the Silk Road to China, Persia, Istanbul, Africa, Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula covering thousands of desert kilometers in years gone by. It is for this reason that the Camel has the well earned name; "Ship of the Desert".


Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

P.S. So you may have thought , like I did, that 1,000 camels in one single train was pretty huge... Think about this... The camel trains across the Sahara Desert were often 25,000 strong !!

Dang, they tried to deliver the package today but I wasn't here to sign for it. Oh well, I'll get it Monday. That should give me some time to absorb some more of this thread.

Salaams blue lander... Absorb this! :)

I would like to look at Nimcha. :shrug:

As always I urge reference in the direction of Forum Library first. Comparison Moroccan and Zanzibari is at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...zANZIBAR+SWORD

There is a great picture of a similar hilt on the sword of Tobias Blose a Captain in the Great Bands of London in the famous book by the late Antony North (Islamic Arms and Armour). Interestingly this sword plus a variation in the hilt guard etc. surfaced in Zanzibar...with the design addition of a hilt d ring and other variants appeared in the Red Sea regions...It seems plausible that design influence may have played its part in the construction of the Sri Lankan Kastane.

Spanish involvement in the design flow across the Med seems certain as http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=hilts seems to indicate ...

Since Spain was largely involved in the South America discoveries (what I mean is that a Papal act assured Spain of its rights in that region whilst doing the same for Portugal in the Indian Ocean) there are also styles of sword there with obvious linkages. It seems inevitable that a certain amount of dizziness will become apparent as sword transition from the Med influences far eastern designs across the Pacific from the Americas...
The pictures below;

THE PORTRAIT PICTURE; ...Portrait of Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, ambassador to England from the King of Barbary (Morocco), unknown artist, England, c. 1600. Oil on panel.

(Detail below suggests the link between the swords appearing on the waist of English officers and nobles in that period see Tobias Blose note.)

From Wikepedia; Quote."Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, Moorish ambassador of the Barbary States to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I in 1600.
Following the sailing of The Lion of Thomas Wyndham in 1551, and the 1585 establishment of the English Barbary Company, trade developed between England and the Barbary states, and especially Morocco. Diplomatic relations and an alliance were established between Elizabeth and the Barbary states. England entered in a trading relationship with Morocco detrimental to Spain, selling armour, ammunition, timber, metal in exchange for Moroccan sugar, in spite of a Papal ban, prompting the Papal Nuncio in Spain to say of Elizabeth: "there is no evil that is not devised by that woman, who, it is perfectly plain, succoured Mulocco (Abd-el-Malek) with arms, and especially with artillery".

In 1600, Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, the principal secretary to the Moroccan ruler Mulai Ahmad al-Mansur, visited England as an ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I.Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud spent 6 months at the court of Elizabeth, in order to negotiate an alliance against Spain. The Moroccan ruler wanted the help of an English fleet to invade Spain, Elizabeth refused, but welcomed the embassy as a sign of insurance, and instead accepted to establish commercial agreements. Queen Elizabeth and king Ahmad continued to discuss various plans for combined military operations, with Elizabeth requesting a payment of 100,000 pounds in advance to king Ahmad for the supply of a fleet, and Ahmad asking for a tall ship to be sent to get the money. Elizabeth "agreed to sell munitions supplies to Morocco, and she and Mulai Ahmad al-Mansur talked on and off about mounting a joint operation against the Spanish". Discussions however remained inconclusive, and both rulers died within two years of the embassy." Unquote.


Two triple photos of the same swords from library.

Golden Kastane set with Gems and scabbard.

The Omani Zanzibari Nimcha worn as a badge of office thus for comfort perhaps? no D ring but with dragons head quillons (the more practical fighting version sometimes having quillons that support a d ring)

Buttins famous page included.

The gentleman in sandy yellow robes wearing a Moroccan sword ...

Wearing blue robes~ Portrait of Mohammed ben Ali Abghali by Enoch Seeman
Inscribed: Portrait of his Excellency Admiral Hadge Abdulcader Perez, Ambassador from the Emperor of Morocco to the Court of St. James November 1723 – September 1724 and again July 1737 – July 1741
Circa 1740.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Flyssa !

To my eye the Flyssa looks like it has.. Yatagan ... influence.

Salaams all..From the Atkinson collection; Quote."The flyssa is the typical knife of the Kabyle people, a branch of the Berbers who reside in Algeria and Morocco. The name “Flyssa” is drawn from the “Iflissen Lebhar”, one of the major tribal confederations of the Kabyle. The eastern most group of the Kabyle is the At Zouaou who live in the Djurdua range of Little Atlas mountains in NE Algeria This tribe that has specialized as the armorers and creators of the flyssa. Among young men of the Kabyle, the acquisition of his sword (or dagger in later periods) was a sort of rite of passage. Elaborate symbolism decorates the flyssa, and these symbols (amuletic geometric figures) are a key to the folk religion in these regions".Unquote.

History
The Kabyle are Berbers located primarily in Morocco, Tunisia, western Libya, and the coastal mountain regions of northern Algeria. The Africans call this entire region of North Africa Maghrib. "Berber" comes from an Arabic name for the aboriginal people west and south of Egypt.

The Kabyle live in the rugged, well-watered al-Quabail Mountains. These inaccessible peaks (some as high as 7,000 feet) have long been a refuge for the Berbers, forming a base of resistance against the Romans, Vandals, Byzantine, and Arabs.

The Flyssa exists as a dagger and sword both. There is a child weilding a Flyssa sword at #41 third sword from the right... Also pictured are Yatagan.

Below some more including;

Long and short Flyssa versions.

A '"Khodmi bu Saadi" a sister knife to the Flyssa.. with the reddish scabbard.

Yatagan for comparison on the female model posing for the Orientalist artist.

"The Arms Merchant" by Rudolph Ernst completes my vignette showing the design link with Yatagan.

The short, curious, very curved other variant of Algerian Flyssa.

On a red carpet background two Flyssa.

That rounds off my Flyssa details..

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:

:)

Nimcha Flyssa Yat
 

Salaams all ~ For an excellent comparison and cross breed see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17081
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:

It finally arrived! It's in terrific shape but the hilt's a little wobbly. I'll take better pictures later, but I took pics of two things I immediately noticed (apologies for the blurriness)

1: there's diagonal lines along the spine by the hilt. They only continue for a few inches, the rest is flat.

2: the back scale of the hilt is definitely wood, but I think the decorated front side might be bone or perhaps wood covered with something?

Salaams Note to Library;

To round off the Moroccan Nimcha I would like to offer a four artworks as under;
Eugene-Delacroix "Soldier of the Moroccan Imperial Guard-1845.
DELACROIX_Eugene The Sultan of Morocco and his Entourage_1845.
Nimcha Artist and date unknown Morocco. 19thC.
Constant le Caid 1873 . Morocco.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Also of note - the wooden scales have shrunk enough that I could peer between them with a flashlight. It doesnt look like the tang extends past the first rivet, the one beneath the leather wrap. The back two rivets are just for holding the scales together. The wood's so old, I think the only thing keeping it together is that leather wrap. You can see some damage to the wood beneath the leather where it's torn away so I assume it was added later as a repair.

Some less blurry photos of the crosses, the moon, and the diagonal lines on the spine.

I also noticed the part of the spine with the diagonal lines is actually a bit thinner than the rest of the blade. I wonder if it was filed down as part of it's transformation into a s'boula.

Edit: on closer inspection the whole spine has file marks, they're just fainter on the rest of the spine

Salaams Blue Lander, Thank you for the clearer pictures. As I have noted the crosses are representing the Southern Cross. They must have been done locally by Berber craftsmen. I have the same impression of the moon strikes... locally done (not at source in the case of European produced blades)..

The moon takes on a quite different meaning (though, broadly, it is talismanic in both the Eastern and Western sense) I suggest that on North African swords it represented the new moon and as the design crept across the Sahara region into the red sea it changed slightly to combine moon with and without facial features and moon with stars struck like asterisks or dots etc etc...So that though the basic marks were put by local smiths they used local designs...thus they morphed from one region to another...Where the funny face moon was copied from Caucasus and other European swords these can be seen to be quite rudimentary copies and it is assumed they just copied them willy-nilly as moon shapes..Squigles, spots and all !

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams all Note to Library ... Some quotes about Moroccan daggers from the famous ...

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

* Stone 1934 p310
"In Morocco the blades are straight and single-edged for about half their length from the hilt, and then curved and double-edged for the remainder. They seldom have ribs. The hilts and scabbards are usually of brass or silver, often the front is of silver and the back of brass. The scabbards frequently curve so much that the ends point upwards. There are almost always large ornamental lugs on the sides that carry large rings to which a cord is fastened by which the knife is hung from the neck. The hilts are usually made entirely of metal and have large, flat pommels. The side of the hilt and scabbard that is outward when the knife is carried is always elaborately, though crudely, decorated. The opposite side is much simpler, in fact, in many cases it is entirely plain."

* Spring 1993 p24
"There are a number of Moroccan variations of the type of dagger collectively known as janbiyya which form an essential element of the formal attire of every adult man in Arabia and the Maghrib countries of North Africa. As with the nimsha, the blades of Moroccan daggers are frequently fitted with European blades, including examples made in Sheffield and Birmingham in England, and Solingen in Germany. The koummya, with its distinctive 'peacock's tail' pommel, is found in a number of variant forms in the Sous region and the Atlas mountains of Southern Morocco. Like the nimsha and the Tuareg takouba, the koummya, is worn on the left side by means of a baldric slung over the right shoulder. The Arabian janbiyya, by contrast, is normally worn in a belt on the front of a man's stomach."

Salaams all... and about Moroccan Nimchas
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

* North 1985 p29-30
"The classic sword of the area is the 'Nimcha'. This has more than a hint of European influence especially in the form of the hilt, which is fitted with a knuckle bow linked to curved quillons. These hilts are found mounted with straight and curved blades[;] the straight blades were usually imported from Europe. This type of sword continued in use until the 19th century."

* Spring 1993 p24
"The nimsha includes elements from both Islamic and European swords in a synthesis which is nonetheless distinctively African. A diagnostic features of many Islamic swords is the cap pommel set at an angle at the top of the grip. In the nimsha this appears as an enlarged and ornate extension to protect the back of the hand. The grip, often of rhinoceros horn or ivory traded across the Sahara, sometimes included a hollowed-out section to accommodate the little finger. By contrast, the form of the four quillons, three curving downwards and the fourth bent back to form a knuckle guard, is suggestive of southern European models, particularly the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spanish swords whose influence may also be seen among those weapons produced in the region of the ancient kingdom of Kongo on the lower Zaire river. The nimsha began to appear from the late sixteenth century and was at first mounted with straight, European blades often of Venetian or Genoese provenance. A shorter, curved version, of entirely local manufacture, was developed during the seventeenth century for use as a naval cutlass."

* Stone 1934 p469
"NIMCHA. An Arab sabre with a knuckle guard rectangular at the base with drooping quillons on the opposite side. It is also used in Morocco."

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but I just saw this curved Shiavona with nearly identical star/moon markings as my blade.


http://sword-site.com/thread/731/curved-schiavona

The quality or detail of the marks on that blade don't seem any fancier or nicer than he ones on mine. I wonder if the marks on mine were done in Europe when it was forged rather than in Africa as most people assume.

The moons are quite different; the crosses seem a better match. :)

Great to see this one pop up again... The beauty of Forum Library...

Blue Lander your hilt is Rhino...see the bunched spaghetti endings? Get a powerful light onto the hilt and it should illuminate up nicely.

Is it one of the hilt forms or perhaps a Gurade hilt? I show to compare a Gurade Hilt ...

The question about the cross and moon ..is interesting... The Cross shown is the famous style both in North African and Spanish form already noted earlier but outlined here;

Quote" Cross of Saint James
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cross of Saint James as used by the Order of Santiago.

In heraldry, the Cross of Saint James, also called the Santiago cross or the cruz espada,[1] is a charge in the form of a cross. It combines a cross fitchy (the lower limb is pointed, as if to be driven into the ground) with either a cross fleury[2] (the arms end in fleurs-de-lys) or a cross moline[1] (the ends of the arms are forked and rounded).

Most notably, a red Cross of Saint James with flourished arms, surmounted with an escallop,[2] was the emblem of the twelfth-century Spanish military Order of Santiago, named after Saint James the Greater. It is also used as a decorative element on the Tarta de Santiago, a traditional Galician sweet."UNQUOTE.

See the thread by Fenris at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3985 where an almopst identical blade is shown ...and below ... but on a Moroccan/Algerian Nimcha.

The Cross of Agadez: Very similar design to that of the above cross..Certainly the design above would have been attractive a Talisman to the Tuareg tribals in the Nigerian and neighbouring regions...see https://www.google.com/search?q=tuar...ww-tZxufI3M%3A for many other examples.

The European Link. I note a host of different sources for the use of the moon from Toledo and Solingen not as makers marks but more as a trend/fashion in blades with popular marks. Various centres used these including the workshops of Juan Martinez and Peter Munich in Toledo and Solingen respectively in the mid 17th C. I see no reason why these could not have joined the copied marks popular in North Africa and some may well have arrived there already adorned..

I add the important reference on Forum at http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/takouba.html

While I don't dispute the NW African/Tuareg attribution, I agree with Ibrahiim on the similarity to Gurade hilts, and in turn, to Sudanese arm daggers. In Blue Nile, historically a 'borderlands' transitional zone between Sudanic and Ethiopian cultural areas ( see https://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/...13/1-James.pdf eg), arm dagger-style hilts are still occasionally seen on straight-bladed short or medium-length swords, giving a visual effect similar to a straightened gurade and very much like the sword in question.

Coincidence, I'm sure, but interesting.

The leatherwork on the hilt also gives it a vaguely Sudanic/Sahelian aspect, but not quite like anything I've seen before.

Yes good point and the likelihood of design influence across a broad band of countries is seen...Here is a trade map or two...European trade blades were awash in North Africa and access to Red Sea routes also opened the floodgates of weaponry into that region by sea ..There are other power houses at work such as the entry into the Indian Ocean by the Portuguese French and English and the big hub generators of trade like Zanzibar, Comores, Islands India and the big slave land and sea routes therein. The massive East India companies pumped into the region were the EIC and the Dutch both equally powerful outfits and then on top of that the pilgrimage routes all making for brisk trade around the regions.

On links between Ethiopia and the Tuareg around the Niger region please see

https://addisabram.wordpress.com/201...r-to-timbuktu/

QUOTE" Tuaregs are probably distant relatives of Ethiopians, Egyptians and Moroccans. Maybe Christianity had a certain influence on them: Tuareg blacksmiths sculpt beautiful Crossess. The crosses, worn as pendants were originally worn by men and passed from father to son. Most of the cross designs are named after oasis towns. The Ethiopian influence in them is obvious.

The Tuareg belong to the large Berber community, which stretches from the Canary Islands to Egypt and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. They are the only Berber speaking community to have preserved and used the Tifinagh writing. Nomads of vast arid lands, the common denominator of the dispersed Tuareg is the language, Tamasheq. Consequently, they identify themselves as Kel Tamasheq (people of Tamasheq). The Tuareg who had originally lived in the northern tier of Africa but were later chased southwards by successive Arab invasions".UNQUOTE.

The trade map above can best be put into perspective by viewing the brilliant treatise on http://iainnorman.com/