[mross]

I won this kaskara off of eprey. It had enough red flags that I did not use the buy it now option but put in a low bid with a lot of hope. I won it as the only bidder which made me even more concerned that the red flags where seen by others who decided not to bite. This is a completely new area for me so my experience is limited. This was the eprey banner, "Superb European bladed Kaskara Solingen likely 18th century North African sword" The orb and cross and standing cat had copper inlays. This worried me that they may not be inlays at but just drawn. The markings seemed to be in a differnt place then my referenece(All my reference is Ed Hunly's articles. THANKS Ed). It also had the fly markings. The crossguard seemed to be of the type; Sammaniya, small flare forged iron. WHich matched the sellers age guess. THe markings are; Fly, orb and cross, and standing cat. THe fullers really bothered me as they looked very crude. But the fullers and blade shape matched the type; Dukkeri abu Dubban.
I have this blade in hand and am still stumped. The fullers are not well done but do not seem to far off from the reference. The fly is there, twice. one is hiding under the cross piece. THe orb and cat are indeed inlaid and not painted or drawn as I feared. I cannot say what the metal is could be copper but it has a odd patina. The blade is unsharpened in the ricasso area. The sharpest area is near the tip which is still quite sharp the rest was sharpened but is not as sharp as the tip area. There seems to be some file marks on the edges, which could point to repro but... Oh, he!! I just can't tell so what are your thoughts. If it's a repro that explains me as the only bidder and it's a lesson, if it's the real deal then it was the deal of the century. Don't be afraid to be brutal or blunt. I've been collecting for years and do not offend easily.