Kaskara for comment

[Mefidk]

Thanks for the appreciative remarks folks

Iain: I hadn't realised that there was so much trade that so many makers produced blades specially for the Sudanese market. Was it just German makers or did the other European bladesmiths have a share in the market? I guess the British were not too keen on arming the Sudanese at the time

The oriental arms sword is a very close match for this - thanks for the link. Yes, 109cm is the total length. I was surprised by the length because my other has a 84cm locally made blade (I guess this is kind of the Sudanese equivalent of the Indian armoury tulwar). The others I've seen have all been of the same basic type. I guess that I have just not been lucky enough to see any good quality swords before.

Ed: Thanks, great info. I managed to find the paper ( here if anyone is interested http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/hunley/kassala.pdf ) - an excellent and very useful work btw.
Certainly does look like there are strong similarities between mine, yours and the oriental arms sword. Do I take it that you are suggesting that this style of decoration was produced exclusively in Kassala, or is the style more general?

Chris

[Iain]

Chris,

As far as I know kaskara imported blades tend to be German. There are I think, a number of factors in this. The main one being that Solingen as a blade center by this point was industrialized and simply the biggest blade production center in Europe. It still accounts for 90% of all knives made in Germany even today!

I am not sure why Solingen zeroed in on takouba and kaskara blades but they seem to be the main folks in the trade. Italian blades tend to show up in nimcha and other coastal types. Wilkinson made patterns to order for Ethiopia, which were supplemented by Solingen products as well. Essentially Solingen were the big players and covered just about every market. I've often wondered if this flurry of export activity was due to a reduced need inside Europe for military pattern swords. With a large number of makers based in a single city I would imagine their production capacity far outstripped regional and national needs, so they had to look farther afield. Many period travelers note the European blades for sale in the Sahel and quite a few specifically mention German blades, not other countries.

While I'm more familiar with the takouba situation on the western side of the Sahel, generally speaking there was a massive import market for European manufactured goods such as needles and other products that the Europeans had industrialized at this point. The cost of manufacturing was so divergent between the Sahel and Europe that even when factoring in transport the European product could often essentially undercut the locally made item. This doesn't apply perhaps so much to swords but illustrates in general the trade relationship and level of integration between Europe and the Sahel.

About length, this varies as you've already seen. Some European blades are shorter, some are longer. Same with the native blades. Many of the native blades, particularly older ones, are by no means "bad" quality. They must have performed just fine at the time. They're is some resemblance to munitions grade talwars in that the large number of locally produced blades fulfilled a need among the average tribesman to own a kaskara. I would assume the imports were reserved for those with rank, money and social status.

[Edster]

Chris,

I think the tassel is stylistically of the Hadendawa. However, I can't say that they were made exclusively in Kassala. Could have originated in other sword making areas of Eastern Sudan, primarily in Atbara. But I have seen high end Atbara swords with the harlequin silver handle and no tassel. Atbara sword makers would serve both a Nile Valley tribes as well as the Hadendawa market. All this said, I'd bet on it being from Kassala.

Regards,
Ed

[Iain]

Hi Ed,

Few questions if I may, I'd always associated the silvered/metal domed ;pommel kaskara with Darfur. Would that region still have been furnished by cutlers from the eastern Sudan, at Kassala and Atbara? Maybe in an analogous situation to the western Sahara were most mounting was carried out in the larger Hausa cities.

Second point I wanted to raise was about the tassel. Is this a fairly recent addition? I've seen both these cloth tassels and leather braided thongs. Older swords I often see neither - although perhaps that's just due to loss of material over time.

[Edster]

Iain,

I don't think I've inspected any Kaskara known to have been made before the Mahdiya. My guess it that before the British ended the Khalifa's reign in 1899 most blades were either imported as you describe, or of locally wrought iron or wood. After the British took over good quality steel was readily available especially along the railroads at Atbara.

The Khalifa, from Western Sudan, concentraated most of the tribes in Omdurman so he could keep an eye on them. Also, there was an armory in Omdurman during the Khalifa's rule, and I imagine a lot of swords were made or reworked there from captured British and Eqyptian weapons. No dodubt a lot of design motifs were shared, but any one purchaser probaably preferred the traditional motifs of his tribe to exhibit an identity.

Keep in mind that sword smiths and silver smiths are completely different crafte, technically and socially. Silver workers were held in higher esteme. Were no doubt more wide spread than sword smiths. Also, silver fittings were really "after market" items as the sword smith delivered a sword with simple rough wooden grips and silver mountings could have been attached virtually anywhere and remote from blade manufacture. Even the scabbards were made in a different leather market, The purchaser would buy a sword with plain handle and scabbard and take them to the silver smith of outfitting as he choose and could afford. But that leaves open the question as to where (in what craft shop) the Hadendowa tassel was actually affixed.

I have seen tassels on swords of Western Sudan (like the fine "Ali Dinar" piece on a previous thread), but they were attached to the handle with a cord 8-10 inches long. The Hadendawa tassles, always black, are a part of the handle. Can't say if they are a recent innovation, but I would assume that they are traditional to the Mahdiya Period. The Hadendawa traditionally used spears and the hooked knife in the bush and maybe adopted the sword in the Mahdiwa, although I can't say that with any certainty.

Iain, I'm not sure I answered your questions, but the alternative is to say "I don't know".

Regards,
Ed

[Iain]

Ed,

Many thanks, that's about as good a explanation as I could hope for.

The separation of metal workers based on specific material is something I'm familiar with from the Hausa. At least there you have castes based on iron/steel working and white metals (silver, tin, brass, copper etc.).

Part of the reason I'm asking so many questions is that in some sources such as Barth, he talks about a large number of blades being imported to Kano, hilted and reexported out, in part, to the Sudan. However as the term at the time included a rather more massive area than the current country it's hard to know just how accurate his report is and just how far this would have extended. I'm trying to find out what I can about the overlap in these regions between takouba and kaskara and a large part of that is obviously the hilts.

The notes about the silver fittings being more or less after market finishing is rather fascinating for me. Given the somewhat close connections between the eastern and western Sahel in terms of metalsmith casts and practices gives me some insight into how the two sword forms were manufactured differently (brass hilted takouba being impossible to finish in a half way stage due to the integral nature of the brass to the overall hilt design).

I'm not sure why I thought the tassels were a latter addition, perhaps the older blades I've seen in museum and private collections just had them removed, or aging took a toll on the organic material.

Your insights are fascinating as always. Thanks for sharing.

Best,

Iain

[Mefidk]

Iain & Ed - thanks so much for the information and insights, its really fantastic that you are willing to so readily share this information.

If I might push my luck a little further and ask what may be a couple of naive questions. Firstly I wondered about the weapon production in Kassala and the arms trade in the area in general. Kassala is very close to Eritraea and so I wondered how far east the use of the kaskara would be expected? Or was it simply that the manufacture of arms was a big export business in these areas and kaskaras went west and shotels were made there too and went east?

Secondly, this whole region appears to have had a very turbulant history, except for Ethiopia which as far as I understand it has had pretty stable boundaries. So I would I be right in thinking that Ethiopea has a more easily traceable weaponary than the rest of the region because of the amazing longevity of the Solomonic Dynasty (1270-1974)? For instance I believe I read somewere that the shotel can be traced back perhaps as far as 4th centuary BC. If so perhaps there are some more solid delineations as we move into Ethiopea? As a newly interested collector in north African arms it might be nice to feel that there was something solid in the shifting sands of human migrations in the region to use as a reference point

Chris