[blue lander]

If it's a parade/dress saber that would explain the bending as well as how lightly built it is overall. And thank you as always for providing the historical context. I wonder why they altered the tip of the blade. It doesn't seem typical for Manding swords. Maybe the original tip snapped off and this is how they repaired it.

I once saw an auction for an "African saber" that was a completely unaltered European saber with its original European style guard and hilt, but in a Manding style leather scabbard. I wish I had saved a picture. If that saber could have been identified by the shape of the guard, maybe it would tell us more about when and where the Manding got their blades. Assuming it wasn't an anomaly of course.

Edit: never mind. I found the auction in my browser history and the scabbard looks like it's North African, not Manding. I must have misremembered. Here it is anyways. It looks quite a bit like a takouba scabbard, and the saber itself looks like a cheapo private purchase one rather than anything military issued.