Lew,
I really like to read the posts on this forum. I will always remain a student to the Masters of the Forum!!!
I was looking through my old 1984 field notes from Kassala (just a short blink in time) and found an entry. A blade smith by the name of Fatih Hallah made blades with a wide canal (khar) as on your blade, and uses a maker's mark like the Ethiopian ones. Didn't record his mark. Rats, hindsight and all of that. He said that Ethiopian blades were blank, had no lines on them.
One informant said that the Durod (fly) sucks blood from camels and horses and a sword so marked sucks blood. Said the sword was likely made in Massawa. (Up the Red Sea coast in maybe in Eritrea). A similar design, one maker's mark looks like a cow's head. That mark was used b a man named Samnani (died about 1979) He made the sword in the time of Asari, the first president of Sudan (Early 1950s).
A couple of other points that may be of interest.
Cross guards are called ("Tomot" in Hadendawa language and Bersham in Arabic). Those with a diamond end face are called "Mutahman".
Kind of a screwdrived end originated in Sennar from the Fung times and are called "Sennariya".
The hexagon are called "Samanniya" after the Tariqa (Sufi order).I seem to recall that the Samanniya were a powerful order during Mahdi times, and I think they rivaled the Mahdi. Jim is a much better historian than me and may be able to clarify. All three types were made in Kassala at the time I was there.
My informant said that the cross guards that flair at the end are very old, high quality. Local smiths of the day try to duplicate the style, but cannot.
An uncommon blade is the Suliman Mukhumus has five canals. The canals act as a spring and the sword can be bent severely and not break.
On earlier posts we have speculated on the origin of the diamond designs on silver coverings on the grip. Another informant said it was from the village of Wager on the Gash River (north of Kassala). He didn't give a date.
Regards,
Ed
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