[Jim McDougall]

In the original post, Mauro was hoping to find the probable origin of the blade on his unusual Sudanese saber. As Ed has well noted in his post #6, by proper classification this is clearly not a kaskara, which is by definition a Sudanese broadsword.

In my post #4, I noted a saber I have which has distinctly Sudanese characteristic elements, and as such I have deemed it a saber which is probably Sudanese.

While the discussion of these other saber blades from Aceh etc. is interesting it has little to do with the original question by Mauro.......how old is the blade on the most unusual saber he has, and the most salient element , the standing knight marking on the blade.

If I may reiterate my notes from previous post, the marking of the standing knight actually was fairly well known on Sudanese kaskaras (broadswords) but here is the point.......as far as I have known not on a saber blade in a kaskara style hilt. It is, again as noted earlier, the mark of Wilhelm Clauberg of Solingen.

Here it is important to note that Gen. Gordon while Governor General of Sudan in 1878 invited Rudolf von Slatin of Austria to become the Governor of Dara in SW Darfur. Slatin arrived there in 1879 to take that post.

In this time there was considerable trade in these regions which included of course Austria and Germany . In 1882 as the Mahdiyya had begun, a rebellion of Rizeigat tribesmen in Darfur took place in support of the Mahdi, and Slatin was captured. After the death of the Mahdi in 1885, he became the prisoner of Khalifa Abdullahi, until his escape in 1895.

In his book "Fire and Sword in the Sudan" (1896) Slatin notes that the Mahdi himself had a sword with a blade with markings and inscriptions clearly indicating its Eastern Europe origins. This would suggest that these blades were notably present and of high esteem in this period (1882-1885).

In references it is noted that the sword blades made by Clauberg appear to be from the period before the end of the Franco-Prussian war (1870), so this blade would appear to be from a cavalry saber pre-1870.

Whether it was mounted in the 'kaskara' style hilt in that time is unclear, but that it arrived in Sudan sometime around 1880 or slightly later seems most likely .

Mauro, I hope this might shed some light on the likely circumstances of your most interesting saber.

I have attached your photos from original post of the saber and marking we are discussing.


BTW Werecow, thank you for starting a new thread on the 'other ' topic which has indeed overtaken the query here.