Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Mefidk · 11th April 2011, 12:22 PM

I picked this up at a local arms fair at the weekend. This is only my second kaskara and I think number 7 that I have seen first hand, but it seems to be a very nicely produced weapon. Following from a previous kaskara thread here I wonder if this is another Darfur kaskara. Judging from the colour and oxidation I think there is quite a lot of silver in hilt decoration, but no harlequin pattern.

I find the blade rather interesting. I thought at first it was a larger blade ground down to kaskara form, but it has also been suggested by another forumite that it is a German 19C blade (the hilt I assume is early 20C). There is a small ricasso and both sides of the blade have two horizontal lines which I assume mark the forte as was, but these are just residual marks. No other marks that I can find on the blade which is 94cm long and 4.5cm wide at the base.

More pictures here.

So I'm wondering if there is anyway to guess where this blade comes from, and whether the lack of stamps or writing is due to them not being there, or past overcleaning? How much work was required to 'make' the kaskara from the original blade - or have I got it completely wrong and the blade was made this way from the start?

Chris

11th April 2011, 12:22 PM	#1
Mefidk Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Denmark Posts: 157	Kaskara for comment I picked this up at a local arms fair at the weekend. This is only my second kaskara and I think number 7 that I have seen first hand, but it seems to be a very nicely produced weapon. Following from a previous kaskara thread here I wonder if this is another Darfur kaskara. Judging from the colour and oxidation I think there is quite a lot of silver in hilt decoration, but no harlequin pattern. I find the blade rather interesting. I thought at first it was a larger blade ground down to kaskara form, but it has also been suggested by another forumite that it is a German 19C blade (the hilt I assume is early 20C). There is a small ricasso and both sides of the blade have two horizontal lines which I assume mark the forte as was, but these are just residual marks. No other marks that I can find on the blade which is 94cm long and 4.5cm wide at the base. More pictures here. So I'm wondering if there is anyway to guess where this blade comes from, and whether the lack of stamps or writing is due to them not being there, or past overcleaning? How much work was required to 'make' the kaskara from the original blade - or have I got it completely wrong and the blade was made this way from the start? Chris Attached Images