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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
I think these letters may have been latten filled, and it seems a good possibility this is a late 17th century cavalry (probably schiavona) blade .
The fact that the latten filled crescent arcs are there suggests more that this blade was inscribed in Europe.
These letters are too deeply stamped to have been done in the native perameters, and while the apparently poorly struck letters bear some resemblance to native alphabets, I am inclined more to European origin.
Still, this entire assemblage gives us great perspective to the kinds of influences which native armourers experienced, and it is hard sometimes to discern where European style ends and native takes over.
Frankly, this places this blade in 'jackpot' category!!! 
It has become ever harder to find early blades in these contexts.
Ibrahiim, your notes and observations continue to perfectly illustrate the close parallels between European influence and these native interpretations. The undulating lines which are known in European context as serpents on blades in Italy and I think Spain in degree surely must have been seen by armourers in the Sahara. In their native folk religion it seems I have seen references suggesting the snake and magic of holy men were synonymous.
Kronckew, again, thank you for sharing this amazing sword here! |
I place here the incredible treatise on North African style transition and flow on Jewellery across the entire Ethiopian Tuareg and Hause regions
http://www.academia.edu/7634962/The_...nd_West_Africa...
Hello Jim, This is certainly jackpot country ... Insignias, capitals and marks on blades across North Africa have a huge pedigree and I can only note firstly that the snakes of which there are 5...are absolutely in the Islamic tradition...Fortunately this falls into the style of work both in Hausa, Tuareg and Ethiopian form since they also drew on Arabic decorations... So the 5 snakes were done in North Africa but what about the rest?
3 dots are straight off the alphabet form ... More difficult to argue since we see 3 dots in blades Latten filled but not on the side of the blade ...Apparently it is the small letter k.
The letter string is hugely difficult but if it does indeed say ZANCONA it may well have been done in Europe...
However, in terms of the North Africa Smiths (and there is vast evidence to support the import of European trade blades through hubs like Kano see reference below ) the Hausa, Tuareg and Ethiopian artisans were about as close to magicians as possible in peoples eyes as were the folk who wandered the country giving potents for medicinal purposes and magic signs to be placed on jewellery and swords. These weird folk who were apparently Jewish in days of old look the same now as they did then and it is quite startling when you encounter one today ...often in a Moroccan souk...they appear in all their traditional regalia and look 200 years old and instantly ready to whip up a spell !!.....
No doubt the art of the alchemist in Europe also knew these dark symbols ... though because the North African palette was so large hundreds of symbols could be called upon from Roman, Arabic through all the local dialects and mixed and muddled... It is quite interesting that some of the inscriptions had some meaning but often they had none... I think to drive us all mad !!
See the following link for an idea of the blade trade entering North Africa and flushing across the regions and imagine the trading stations they crossed Africa by... Here then is the hand of Trade stepping across Saharan regions as far as the Red Sea and the link in style on blades by local smiths setting down puzzles that in some cases cannot be answered fully.
https://books.google.com.om/books?id...mports&f=false