A Pair of Ethiopian Swords
 

Both of these resent acquisitions have European blades, but very different hilts. Radu, I've been looking for a lion head hilt since I first saw yours! The other was a lucky pickup that I had to clean up (yes, the blade was black and I cleaned it) to find the pattern underneath. It was a nice surprise. The rhino hilt has been painted with something. It comes off pretty easily, so I don't know if it's original or done later. Anyone seen this before?

Painted
 

Hi Derek ,
Yeah , I have a Philippine Revolution sword with a Carabao hilt that has been painted .
Now this sword has acquisition numbers painted on the blade so I'm not sure whether it was painted for preservation outside of its cultural context or not . :confused:

Derek

Nice swords the top one has a French made hilt often found on 1896 swords made for the Chilean army by the French. The other is a classical Ethiopian sword.


Lew

Derek,

How did you removed the paint??

On the blade - a lot of mineral oil, elbow grease, and a plastic scotchbrite. I haven't done anything to the grip as I suspect anything that will take off paint will probably harm the horn as well. And that would suck.

Idea
 

Try a credit card or dull butter knife edge (even your fingernail) and it might scrape off nicely without damaging the horn if it's not too thick . This method works quite well for removing old finish from chairs without damaging the patina underneath .
Of course work with the grain .

Hi Rick,

Thanks for that idea! Would something like an ice scraper or plastic putty knife work as well as a credit card?

Hi Fearn , I would guess so but go easy and test a small area before diving in .
I have also scraped a lot of chairs with a small jack knife that was dull .
You don't want to be taking shavings from the base material .

With the painted hilt I showed earlier in this thread a fingernail will remove the finish . I am just reluctant to do this because I don't know whether the finish was applied by the originating culture or the collector/museum that wound up with it .

As always ; first do no harm .

Hi Derek. Here is the hilt of one of my swords. It looks very similar to yours and it is painted black as well. I have not tried to remove the paint. I think it is "original". Also, note the cavity on the side of the top piece. You have one too. It is an indication that the grip 1s made of buffalo horn and not rhino. Glad you could clean up the sword. RON

Hi Roano,

Thanks for the info, I have a few others that are black as well, but without the indent that you correctly noted on this one. Question: is it definitely buffalo horn in your estimation, because it is fairly tanslucent and that led me to think rhino. I've seen enough variation in rhino now that I'm often not sure, especially when it's under paint.
-d

PS, thanks for the lion head, it's a keeper. I noticed what looks like a very worn six point star near the base of the blade. Do you know who the maker was?

Thanks for the info, Lew. These variations veer well into realm of European sword makers & European styles and I know little about them.

Derek, I just sent some comments and pictures to the other thread dealing with an Ethiopian "seif". They apply to you as well.

Thanks, Roano.

Anything to add on this one about origins?

-d

Blade is European (obviously) and my guess is that it is either French or English. The 6 pointed star, which is a British prook mark of some sort, has been copied by many unscrupolous blade makers who were banking on the fact that the Abyssinians loved English stuff. To them "London" meant "the best". The common inscription "Sword of the brave man" (Teru yegobez gurade), for example, sometimes includes the word London that can only be translated as such: The Best Sword of the Brave Man. But that's another story... Bottom line is that the 6 pointed star can be found on blades that are not actually English. I hope all this makes sense to you.