Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TVV
Carlos,
Thank you for posting a much better picture of the Toledo sword than what I was able to do a couple of years ago in post 56 of this thread. It may take some time, but I hope eventually these swords will start to be properly attributed to the Caribbean and not to the Maghreb.
Teodor
|
We can only hope Teodor!!!
I first got one of these 'Berber' sabres back in 1995, before they were very known, and in a few years they gradually appeared.
I also got one of the guanabacoa which was claimed to have come from Monterrey Mexico.
These finger stalled guanabacoa had turned up in a well known dealers catalog as 'Algerian' pirate swords I saw later, which seemed a bizarre attribution. I later began seeing them in other catalogs with Mexican sword groupings. In a London auction catalog, a silver mounted one was listed as a Mexican sword. The article written by Calvo describes them as Cuban, as noted by our Mexican friend Gonzalo, who has not written here in many years.
Over these past 21 years, remarkable numbers of these weapons have appeared, most of them either from Mexico or Central American contexts. Pierce Chamberlain advised me around 2001 of some of these in a catalog which were provenance to Spanish American war bring backs.
In Tirri (2004) were the examples of the 'Berber' type sabres which were associated with volunteers or some such groups in early 20th century Spanish colonies. This was the only established reference I know of which suggested North African attribution of these.
I join with Ian in thanking Carlos for the most telling photos of the sword grouping in Toledo, and Teodor I still remember your entries from those years ago.
Ibrahiim, that curious scabbard with the vertical 'beak' or whatever it is was long confounding to me as well, on the 'Berber' sabres......now known to be Central American, Spanish colonial machetes or such form swords.
A similar type fixture is seen on Ethiopian shotels in "African Arms and Armour" by Christopher Spring, and that became a kind of red herring often wondering what the Ethiopian/Berber connection was.
It has been suggested that these are a kind of 'handle' to withdraw the machete from the usually leather mount scabbards, possibly more difficult in moist tropical climes ?