Joe, thank you, and nicely done with imaging the thuluth script.
Teisani, well observed on the guard. Here I will point out that the character of this guard is in 'the style of' the Ottoman types, which were indeed copied by the Europeans in their admiration of the Mamluks in the Egyptian campaigns late 18th-early 19th c.
However, as seen on the kaskara with thuluth blade I posted, the guard is brass rather than iron, and these shops were casting brass components in these times. This example is rough, without the finer ring at the base, and more like locally cast.
After the untimely death of the Mahdi in 1885, the impetus of the jihad was threatened as obviously the death of their Messiah was disconcerting. The Khaliph, in my opinion, began the decoration of the blades on these swords as well as the various tribal weapons from other regions for those tribesmen conscripted into Ansar forces.
Many of these were produced at the Beit al Amana (Omdurman arsenal) however it is believed many of the throwing knives and other forms may have been produced at Khartoum (whose arsenal remained intact after Gordon's downfall in 1885).
The Mahdi was known for his 'magic' and while Briggs noted (1965, p.75) that this script was "...decorative but unreadable designs imitating Qur'anic script, believed to have amuletic value". ...we now know that in many cases there were references to the Mahdi's 'angels' as well as phrases of Islamic piety and war cries, invocations.
While as can be seen, some of the script is repetitive, there are variations with genuine invocations .
This style of Islamic calligraphy, of the forms, thuluth is of course broader and bolder, and known for decorative use on Mamluk arms and metalwork,
The Mamluk traditions were well established in Sudan, and their conservative conventions in arms and armor are likely the source of much influence in Sudanese arms.
Many of the heavily acid etched weapons of varied forms, and atypical in cases were awarded to the tribal chiefs and leaders of the contingents in the Ansar forces, so this may be such an anomaly. Clearly the pommel and guard are non compliant with kaskara, but there were efforts to use weapons of forms of indiginous weapons of other tribes, so perhaps this lunette pommel might be such a case.
The lizard skin (waran) and crocodile hide are totemic symbols of strength and power of the warrior, used widely through Sudan. While many insist these are again, tourist souvenirs, it is known that weapons with these hides were well represented on the battlefield at Omdurman and other actions in these campaigns.
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