West African ? sword for I.D. and comment.

[colin henshaw]

First class Iain, and good references too...

A few points :-

The scabbards on this type of sword/cutlass from West Africa I have seen, are usually pointed, following the shape of the blade, but this one has a square end, sometimes seen on Cameroon weapons - any ideas on this ?

Do you think the sheath style can be a date indicator, can you elaborate ?

So, would you say the blade is made in Europe or Africa ? If in Europe, where would you think - Germany ? Any pointers as to how to recognise a European blade and an African-made blade ?

Regards.

Originally Posted by Iain

It's Mandingo - a style popular with the sub-population in modern day Liberia.

Reference: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypld...472807&imageID...

I like this one, often the blades are not of particularly high quality. This one looks quite nice. The example I linked above is from 1906, I know of at least one other that was collected from the same period, but your scabbard makes me think that at least that, is later work. The blade certainly seems to have the age to be turn of the century though.

Here's a chap from the same region holding a similar sword: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypld...=0&print=small

The half moon mark is found rather widely and the blade trade flowing from and through the Hausa city states and then into West African no doubt helped to proliferate the mark as a sign of quality.

Other Sahel influences are clear on the scabbard, where the leather has been formed to mimic the brass throat with cutouts of a typical takouba scabbard.

Cheers,

Iainhttp://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypld...20&pNum=&pos=9