As Ive just described in another post,
Those swords are actually a bit close to a particular kind of short sabers used by algerian navy man in the ottoman era, or "barbary coasts" of algiers. So yeah, that shape/lenght has defiitely an historical use, but those ones could be faked (this engraving of the thurga looks too clean for me, and also, algerians dont show the same allegeance to the ottoman ruler, than the anatolian or balkan people, they consider themselves as allies, not vassals, as exemple, very few official document of this era in algeria shows a thurga).
However, if the date is more than 1830, this couldnt be algerian due to the french colonisation... BUT, from the late 19century, algerians begin to make some decorativ copies, and french cutlery start to copy some algerian/ottoman models too, that they obvioulsy seen in algeria.. so thats probably why you talked about some "french copy" below.
Here is a "real" navy sword from algeria, 17/18century. Change the handle, and you can call it an "algerian nimcha".
Best regards, khaled.
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