[Jim McDougall]

Hi Paulo,
I heartily concur with all the observations on what a fine piece this is, and cannot resist adding some notes beyond those well deserved accolades.

I am glad to see Ed add his notes here as in my opinion his field work in 1984 is likely the most relevant and powerfully detailed work on the intricacies of the kaskara since Graham Reed's work (1987). It is ironic that Ed's work actually was done prior to Reed's published work and the two now joined are outstanding resources for further study of these swords.

As Ed has noted, the five fullered blade is significant among the Sudanese blades, and while this one clearly has superior quality I cannot see why it would be European unless there is evidence of a ricasso as Chris has noted.The bladesmiths in Kassala were remarkably skilled and the more commonly seen triple or deep central fullered blades based on European imports were also well made there. I believe both of those types were based on Solingen imports as often discussed on these pages. I think the five channel types may have been based on Italian type blades which were of course likely brought into these regions due in part to Italian presence in these regions from the latter 19th century. The presence of Italian blades and weapons influence in North Africa has often been an influential denominator in thier weapons far into antiquity which should be recalled beyond the more recent here.

As Ed has noted, that this kaskara turned up in Italy is not surprising as the Italian occupation in Sudanese regions in the 1940s was during the rekindling of the swordmaking industry in Kassala at that time.

Turning to the perceived numeric '2' on the scabbard, I know also that this has come up before and I cannot recall the outcome of the notations or when they occurred. In my opinion this is of course not at all the numeral two, but I think there is a dot with what appears to me the second letter in the Arabic alphabet, 'khaa' . What is unclear is that it appears twice and singularly, as if used symbolically. I can only speculate that it is intended in some talismanic parlance as the application with many of the symbols used on these swords. Many of the European makers marks were transliterated into talismanically or superstituously charged meanings as well explained by Ed from his interviews with various informants. I would emphasize that anyone with serious interest in learning about Sudanese swords absolutely must read his outstanding paper.

While I very much look forward to entries from others regarding the meaning of the apparantly Arabic character on the scabbard, I consider that in certain occultism associated with the Sufi followings there are talismanic properties often aligned with these alphabetic characters. Without deeper understanding of the complex nature of these beliefs I cannot elaborate further but simply note that with the profound presence of the Sufi order in these regions, perhaps this solution might be viable.

All best regards,
Jim