Kaskara

[Edster]

William,

The short fuller on your kaskara has been common on broadswords since the Viking era so that in itself is not indicative of age. The lion has not been identified as to maker/age, but is also shown in Fig. 13 (from Steven Wood) in my Kaskara Fuller Styles thread, link below. The other mark nearby is unknown to me.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...aker%27s+marks

The "cross & orb" is unlike and upside down from the standard Kull/German mark, c.1847, (Fig. 8), but looks more like the Funj "drum & sticks" mark (Fig.10) also from Steven Wood. The Funj marked their property, including animals and even slaves with that mark. The Funj Era ended in 1821, but your sword could have been marked virtually any time before. The fact that its size is larger than the Kull, upside down and not centered in the fuller heavily suggests to me that it was added after manufacture and likely in the field.

Hopefully, others can add more on the lion and whatever marks as well.

Regards,
Ed