Recent takoubas for sharing

[Iain]

Originally Posted by TVV

Very nice sword indeed. Based on the hilt, would you classify it as Hausa?

Teodor

Thanks! I'd actually put it down as Tuareg, but it's tough to say really. Without a scabbard it gets even tougher.

Decoratively there's nothing here to really distinguish this. This is an old drawing of a Tuareg example: http://encyclopedieberbere.revues.or...2159/img-1.png with a Spanish blade.

Even after much trying I've yet to find a definitive way to make ethnic classifications. Hausa tends to use longer scabbard throats and chaps, Nupe pieces are often all metal hilts. The wide blades are pretty distinctive etc...

But your basic mounts like these... Not really all that distinct.

It used to annoy me, but more and more I see it as a pattern that was simply very common across a large area and a type manufactured in the greatest numbers in a few commercial centers and widely exported. Hence it's not surprising to see them distributed far and wide among various ethnic groups, rather than being tribally distinct.