Regihis - it does indeed seem that our examples came from some very similar source, or at least the text that was copied did.
If your's mentions Omdurman, and mine a tomb then it does seem more likely that we have some evidence for post-Mahdi sourvenirs. So perhaps a translation will finally be able to finish this discussion - e.g. if it turns out that there is some mention of the Mahdi's tomb at Omdurman then we can be certain that these were made at the very earliest at at the very end of the 19C.
Perhaps Dom or some other learned folk with respect to Arabic could help but as far as I understand it the text near the hilt is written in an old but more modern script than that we are referring to as thuluth. Maybe we can get a better or more complete translation of these easier to read sections?
Iain - yes you are quite right about the possible Ethiopian connection. Great minds think alike
- the sword you linked to was the reason I bought this one - thinking perhaps it was similar. Not easy to discern letters though so I'm not really sure yet what it is. The blade does seem to have had a long and active life though judging by the amount of material removed for sharpening.
Chris