[Jim McDougall]

Again, I very much agree with you Ed. We in general do not have a significant grasp of the cultural demeanor, character or beliefs of these people. This is further complicated by the fact that while these Saharan groups are in general Berber, the texture of the clan or tribal subgroups vary with their own idiosyncracies .
Clearly with that being the case, as with any attempt to interpret any sort of arcane thinking linked to symbolic representation without recorded explanations by those using them cannot be irrefutably accurate.

However, it does seem possible to plausibly link examples of the use of certain symbols through consistencies in context and application. For example, with the much more familiar 'dukari' or crescent moons widely known on many takouba blades (in degree on Sudanese as well in the diffusion noted) it seems reasonably established that these are presumed to represent broadly the imbuement of 'magic' in the blade itself.
While we cannot know the exact interpretation of the dynamics of this imbuing, we know that talismanic value is extensively represented by symbolic use of figures and devices in the Berber sphere.

The objective here is to hopefully collect examples of like symbols to establish any consistencies in their presence on exemplars of weapons with certain regional character or provenance otherwise available.

The example of takouba I have posted here is peculiar in being 'aljuinar', that is having a saber type blade as opposed to more typical broadsword blades of takouba. It is European and likely 18th century.
From notes I just found, its provenance is from Ouagadougoo in Burkina Faso where it was acquired there sometime over 30 years ago and I got it from the guy who originally acquired it some 20 years ago.

While I deemed the curious mark at the center of the blade to be of 'horseshoe' character, it is more clearly an arc with dots at each end, rather similar to the 'sickle' marks of dual arcs (usually dentated) of 'Genoa' and which have three dots at each end.

I have seen takouba with this 'Genoan' marking approximated with paired arcs but plain, no dentation, and with single dot at each end. Could the mark on my sword simply be 'reduced' from that application? as we have agreed, we cannot possibly know, but the possibility is clearly there.

We have seen the dukari (paired moons) used consistently in virtually the same application on takouba blades. I have seen suggestions that certain symbolism in folk religions etc. regards 'duality' , which of course is something I cannot adequately discuss here. With that, the concept seems reasonably presumed with the moons.
So then, would the dentated arcs of the so called sickle marks of Genoa be seen in the same light, representing duality in some sense. Might the dentation on the arcs represent light from the moon? and the arcs be the surface?

I have seen many examples of blades where other devices were used in the same configuration and placement of the crescent moons, which suggest a duality representation as noted, but with obviously different symbolic figures.
Some of these were the letter P (?) but in simple arcs. Dual arrow type figures transposed to look like a W, in dual application and others.

While I realize that this clearly seems a bit overthought (ya think?) , I felt that maybe if I offered more explanation of what I am trying to achieve here it might seem worthy of at least more consideration, perhaps even to the level of discussion. It seems the numerous writers who have attempted to take this course over the last century (Rodd, Lhote, Morel, Zohrer, and of course Briggs, et al) at least tried to find reasonable understanding of these markings phenomenon, and I could try as well to continue, despite being far from their stature.