Makers mark on 19th century 'star and comet' Kaskara blade

[Jim McDougall]

I think the discussion from 2022 that Ed has linked in his post #2 has the most comprehensive answer to this question. What is interesting is this 'enigma' marking has remained a conundrum despite the number of compelling theories.

Briggs has noted these stylized marks on the swords of two Taureg chiefs in Air which were taken during the Kaocen Rebellion 1917. While these tribes (I think Tiouinfera was one) seem to have been of the Maliki School of Sunni Islam, which was why I had earlier thought perhaps the stylized devices might be related to symbols in that context.

Im not familiar with the 18th c kaskara of the Funj sultan and this type of hilt so am curious to see images of it and the star and comet. Could you direct to a source for images? It would be great to see 18th century examples of this type of kaskara hilt.

The 'enigma' mark on the blade seems to have been seen as early as 1878 with Adembar sword from Air (I believe this was from J.Gabus, 1958, as per Briggs, 1965). How it became known on kaskara in Darfur and Sudan from what may be Tuareg origins in that light is a question, or was it vice versa, from Sudan to Air?