Very interesting find Jim, thank you for sharing. To me it does indeed look like a Sudanese interpretation of a shamshir with an Ottoman style hilt. We know such swords were quite popular in Egypt prior Muhammad Ali's destruction of the mamelukes in 1811. Some of the mamelukes in fact escaped South to Dongola, with the sultan of Sennar helpless to do much about them until they were finally wiped out in Muhammad Ali's conquest of Sudan. These mamelukes certainly brought a good number of swords with them, so there would have been examples for local artisans to copy. Alternatively, Muhammad Ali's invasion force consisted mostly of Turks and Albanians from the original army with which he went to Egypt, and many must have carried Ottoman hilted shamshirs with them as well. It is not hard to imagine a situation in which a shamshir blade needed new fittings and local craftsmen did their best to copy the original hilt form, while decorating in their own way.
|