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Originally Posted by Edster
Wisram,
Nice kaskara. I'll defer to Iain on the blade. Looks old. The grip has a space at the top to attach the missing Beja/Hadendawa tassle so its from Eastern Sudan or the Beja parts of Eritrea.
Is the cross guard chisel pointed? If so and looks like one piece construction its was probably made in mid-20th. Cent in Kassala where it one-piece unit was developed. If its welded together it could be earlier and made in Sennar (on the Nile) or Atbara or Port Sudan area (both Hadendawa territory).
Ed
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Hello Ed,
Interesting information on the cross guards. I would like to point your attention to a report by a French civil servant, Frederic-Benoit Garnier, First Dragoman of the French Consulate in Egypt, published in 1871 in "Le Soudan: Ses rapport avec le commerce Europeen" (The Sudan: Its relation to European commerce):
Through Suakin, indigenous merchants and some foreign traders, mostly Greeks, import (In Kassala) from Egypt manufactured products… (Follows a list of goods)… blades
and cross guards of German manufacture. These swords (seifs) have a distinctive form; they are long, straight and double edged, reminding one of medieval double edged swords.
(Translated from the French)
Regards,
Andreas