As noted, these curious markings from fig.11 (previous) are those referred to in Mann(1962) as 'twig' marks, and seem to have had wide variation, not only in the branched character but in their occurrence in varied number, configurations and associated other marks (such as 'sickles' etc.)
This blade is quite old, and I am tempted to consider it to be European, with the block forte. The twig marks, though usually on the blade center seem to be authentic, probably Italian, however they were also spuriously used in Germany.
The holes in linear fashion are unusual and three dots in triangular fashion are often commonly seen on other ethnographic blades, such as in India where they are thought to represent the 'Trimurti'.
However it seems possible that these holes were intended to be filled with gold metal, which were a talismanic feature in Islamic swords, from one to several dots ("Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths, Unsal Yucel, 2001).
Really interesting takouba with this old blade, and remounted as usual...these blades circulated for generations if not centuries in these tribal spheres.
|