A couple of comments. The grip (Martin, do you actually have the sword?) looks like burl to me. I can see a couple of tiny cracks on the top flares. But I could be wrong. Bakelite was indeed very popular in Europe at the beginning of the last century, but all the grips I have seen are solid black. I have swords with wood grips covered with thick "plastic" that look like solid plastic. They are blackish green. So, Martin, if you have the sword at hand, you can answer the question. Then, this blade pattern is quite intriguing. When I started collecting Ethiopian blades (MANY years ago) I was offered one of these swords by a dealer from Rome. I turned it down as I thought that it had been "made up" with an Indo-Persian/Caucasic blade.... Years later I came across the Voos catalogue. Since then, I have seen four. One with the greenish black grip. One unbelievable Damascus blade with gold decoration and inscription (in the hands of a Russian collector). The latest one to surface was on Ebay a couple of months ago. European style grip. Here it is. Cheers, Ron
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