Takouba/alguinar West Africa -marking conundrum

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Tim for responding, very much appreciated. Your takouba sounds like quite an anomaly! We know, through Lee Jones in his field work in the Sahara, that the 'aljuinar' was the unusual takouba version with curved blade.
It seems likely of course that while most Tuareg and other tribes favoring the takouba style cross hilts also favored DE broadsword blades, the prevalence of saber blades from colonial forces were used on occasion simply from availability.

The use of European blades, in this case what appears an 18th c hanger blade, and the curious mark, placed in location much in the manner of other such blades, prompted my query. Obviously while many of these 'aljuinar' takouba have blades from various sources, I have even seen MOLE from British sabers, this one seems earlier than the typical 19th century examples.

The double edge on your example is truly curious, perhaps the back was ground down in accord with the broadsword affinities of tribesmen?

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Thank you Tim for responding, very much appreciated. Your takouba sounds like quite an anomaly! We know, through Lee Jones in his field work in the Sahara, that the 'aljuinar' was the unusual takouba version with curved blade.
It seems likely of course that while most Tuareg and other tribes favoring the takouba style cross hilts also favored DE broadsword blades, the prevalence of saber blades from colonial forces were used on occasion simply from availability.

The use of European blades, in this case what appears an 18th c hanger blade, and the curious mark, placed in location much in the manner of other such blades, prompted my query. Obviously while many of these 'aljuinar' takouba have blades from various sources, I have even seen MOLE from British sabers, this one seems earlier than the typical 19th century examples.

The double edge on your example is truly curious, perhaps the back was ground down in accord with the broadsword affinities of tribesmen?

Hi Jim!

I can't say anything about the mark. But about the blade shape, I've been wanting to discuss this for a long time.

Did all swords called takuba have exactly the shape we know?

Joseph P. Smaldone «Warfare in the SOKOTO Caliphate»
A glossary of Hausa military terminology

Straight swords:
takobi, takuba - any sword ( = kansakali)
tamogas or tamogashi - sword with three lines running parallel along the blade
dunhu - plain sword, without markings
tama - type of cheap sword
zabo - type of sword
lafaranji - single-edged sword

Scimitars, or slightly curved single-edged swords, were less common and were used primarily by cavalry. Swords of this type were first used in the Islamic world in the early fourteenth century and had reached North Africa by the early sixteenth century: Bivar, Nigerian Panoply. Among the sabres used by the Hausa were:
bisalami или almulku
hankatilo - scimitar of Kanuri origin ( = almulku = bisalami)
hindi - curved single-edged sword

Note 58 to Chapter 3

Other straight swords included the dunhu, a plain unmarked weapon; the tarnogas or tamogashi, a sword with three lines cut along the blade; the tama, a cheap sword; and the zabo. Muffett also lists the lafaranji, a single-edged weapon: "Nigeria - Sokoto Caliphate," p. 297, n. 20. Scimitars, or slightly curved one-edged swords, were less common and used principally by the cavalry. Swords of this type were first used in the Islamic world in the early fourteenth century, and reached North Africa by the early sixteenth century: Bivar, Nigerian Panoply, pp. 15-16, 27. Among the sabers used by the Hausa were the bisalami or almulku; the hindi was probably of Indian origin, and the hankatilo was Kanuri (Bornu). See Bivar, pp. 13-27, for a detailed discussion of some examples of these straight and curved swords, and his photographs, figures 1-11, pp. 45-55.

Jim, note that House classified swords by blade type and quality (imported or locally made). So it is impossible to say with certainty what kind of hilt and handle a particular sword or sabre had.