[Jim McDougall]

Just for the record, it seemed I had recalled instances of nimcha which indeed had two downturned quillons rather than the three which appear standard on the Moroccan versions.
Apparently in Algeria, there are examples of nimcha hilts with just two quillons downturned, and I found this noted in " Islamic Weapons" Maghrib to Moghul", Anthno Tirri, 2003, p. 42-43, fig. 21A);
"...Algeria produced a version of the Moroccan nimcha but with two basic differences. The Algerian nimcha has only two downturned quillons and the blade is usually a locally produced flyssa style blade".

The illustration I have attached is from "Les Armes Blanches du Monde Islamique" (Alain Jacob, 1985. p.51). ..an Algerian nimcha with two downturned quillons.

Clearly the sword we are examining does not have a flyssa blade, but it does have two quillons, not three.

In Tirri (p.42, op.cit.) the word 'usually' regarding the use of flyssa blades is key. It seems reasonable that in Algerian coastal regions, particularly those involved with Ottoman naval/pirate activity, the blade of a flyssa would not be preferred, but the use of a sturdy European blade would.

Briggs (1965) in his article on European blades in Tuareg weapons also illustrates a nimcha blade (similar fullering), but it appears to have a Moroccan hilt. What is interesting is that Briggs was in Algeria, not Morocco, yet a Moroccan style example was found there. Obviously, there was an interpolation of the two hilt forms in the Maghrebi littoral.

I attached illustration of our sword in discussion for comparison rather than having to keep scrolling back to it.


JUST FOUND ANOTHER(bottom illustration).
From "Arts of the Muslim Knight" ed. B.Mohammed, 2008, p.18
'...from Algeria, Oran, Ottoman period, c. 1720-32'

While these quillons are not of course identical, they do illustrate the proclivity to dual quillons in Algerian hilts of the nimcha style.