An Unusual Ethiopian Short Sword

[roanoa]

Derek, thanks for the dagger. As you can see, I already had a very similar one. Same style of blade. Horn grip (much cruder) with an ITALIAN Fascist time coin as a capstan. Now, it's interesting for me to see that both scabbards are made with the terminal part of a sword scabbard. My old one is made of brass and covers a regular red leather scabbard. I have the feeling that the leather part is also part of the original sword scabbard. The brass is machine stamped with the same pattern found in the brass decoration of shields. The one I got from you is made of German silver and it basically copy the same pattern, though it is clearly hand made. I think that it may have had a leather insert as well. The blade seems to be of good quality and it may be part of the original sword blade. In short, these two daggers (I would not call them short swords) witness the practice of salvaging broken weapons. Most likely they were the weapons of enemies killed in battle.