Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

tom hyle · 15th January 2005, 05:48 PM

I'm nagged by the feeling that the hide covering on the handle is not original, but perhaps a repair (?) The carving on the pommel seems finer than would show well through it, and that doesn't seem "right". There's more, but start with that, if you will. You can look at the actual object, eh?....see what you think. The blade is really nice, and the pommel carving looks nice, but the hide work looks fairly crude; field-repair to tighten a hilt? to weatherize it? to bind splits? I recently saw an old Mexican army sabre whose entire hilt, handle, pommel, and brass barred basket, had been (seemingly and allegedly originally) covered in leather. I know that leather covered hilts are common in much of Africa, but this work looks to me atypical, mainly in its crudity, and crudity as compared to both other pieces as well as to other elements of this piece? Hard for me to tell from the pics though, whether it's crudity or just drying/damage???????

15th January 2005, 05:48 PM	#9
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	I'm nagged by the feeling that the hide covering on the handle is not original, but perhaps a repair (?) The carving on the pommel seems finer than would show well through it, and that doesn't seem "right". There's more, but start with that, if you will. You can look at the actual object, eh?....see what you think. The blade is really nice, and the pommel carving looks nice, but the hide work looks fairly crude; field-repair to tighten a hilt? to weatherize it? to bind splits? I recently saw an old Mexican army sabre whose entire hilt, handle, pommel, and brass barred basket, had been (seemingly and allegedly originally) covered in leather. I know that leather covered hilts are common in much of Africa, but this work looks to me atypical, mainly in its crudity, and crudity as compared to both other pieces as well as to other elements of this piece? Hard for me to tell from the pics though, whether it's crudity or just drying/damage???????