Noth African sword

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by blue lander

The seller described it as an Asian saber, but it looks too much like a Takouba style blade to be anything but North African. It's going to be awhile before it arrives here but I thought I'd post a few pictures from the auction.

Judging from the odd shape of the end of the blade and the way the fullers look truncated at the tip, I'm guessing this was cut down from a larger blade. The handle looks like it's riveted on, which is odd. Since the fullers look forged and the moon and crosses on the blade look stamped, is it safe to assume this was a European blade made for export to North Africa?

The maker's mark is a man in the moon with three crosses on each side. I found a Nimcha with similar markings, 4 crosses instead of three though, here

There's no sheath with it, so I'm not sure If it's possible to determine exactly where it came from. Any ideas? Or what I should call it? Was it a Nimcha at some point? Is it possible to tell where the blade was manufactured or how old it is? I got a pretty good price on it and nobody bid against me, so I hope I didn't get another dud.

Salaams blue lander... Looks OK to me! Some may be forgiven for thinking this is a snapped sword ... at both ends... but have a look at http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3985 Oh I see you have already spotted that ... Nice... In particular I think #7 by Jim McDougall is worthy of note. I looked up the reference to Sandiago Cross and that was interesting.


Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Note; For other Cross shapes related to The Cross of St James (Santiago) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Saint_James

I have added the famous sword hilt detail of the last Emir Abu `Abdallah Muhammad XII (c. 1460 to c. 1533), known as Boabdil (a Spanish rendering of the name Abu Abdullah), was the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada. He was also called el chico, the little, or el zogoybi, the unfortunate. Son of Abu l-Hasan Ali, he was proclaimed sultan in 1482 in place of his father, who was driven from the land. Please note the 4 crosses on the hilt. (In Islamic terms, usually, the cross was used to signify light (candlelight), although, there may be another significance attached to this design)