Ian,
Kaskaras are iconic swords worthy to grace any collection. You did well to snag such a mysterious piece.
The blade looks imported from the pic (deep central fuller and blade not sharpened in top 1/3). I doubt that many proper locally made blades were available at the time. It seems that most local blades then were wrought iron and hardly battle worthy. However, exceptions are always possible. The grip doesn't have the Beja signature tassel so I doubt it was a battlefield pick-up by the NSWC since the Osman Digna's Beja were their adversaries during their brief deployment out of Suakin. Ironically, other Beja were in charge of Suakin at the time and a NSWC officer could have purchased it in the market in 1885.
Best,
Ed
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