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Originally Posted by M ELEY
A put-together sword? Not necessarily a bad thing, as many colonial types were such. The pommel does indeed look like the cat pattern cap from a shiavonna. I think the piece could certainly be Spanish colonial. Copper hilts were common and cherished in Africa, but the piece looks more European. Malta isn't too far from the North African coast, however, and trade patterns/piracy might be considered. Everything looks authentically old, including the blade. Different!  |
Spot on Mark!!!
Some of the most intriguing weapons are these clearly composite items which may have been assembled by innovative armourers in any number of cases , most probably in colonial settings.
I think many instances of these kinds of arms are indeed in Spanish colonial context, but the Italian oriented components here do point toward Africa as you noted with the copper hilt.
The Italian colonial presence in North Africa, particularly Abyssinia is well established and armourers in many regions here as well as others with Italian contact certainly were adept at copying certain European forms.
While the stirrup hilted 'gurade' of European form was well known in Ethiopia, the court sword style of officers sword must have had some presence.
In ersatz situations it is quite possible such a sword as this might have been created for any number of situations. There was considerable volume of Italian weaponry, including blades into the Red Sea trade, and it is quite conceivable that other schiavona components might have moved with them.
As noted, Malta was a key traffic point for blades and weaponry to the North African entrepots as well.