An Unusual Ethiopian Short Sword

[derek]

Originally Posted by Yannis

I am sorry to play devils advocate but does a tribal weapon and a silver plate metal match?

I dont know a lot about Abyssinian swords (I wish I had one) but I have the feeling of something more recent than the coin. The usual hilt of shotels (I think this is in this category) is one piece of horn. Here we have something lot more esthetic. The usual scabbard is wood and leather, sometimes with silver chape and throat. Here we have something more elaborate. I don’t say it is tourist piece. But I have the feeling that is not "correct" somehow.

Also it has a Syrian “touch” that I cant define.

I hope these devilish words don’t hurt anybody and I will be glad to learn that I am wrong.

Hi Yannis,
All comments welcome! Let me point you to some Abyssinian examples with both multi-piece grips and gilding on the blade. These first pics are all multi- piece hilts:





The gilding will be harder in pics to show but here are a few that still show it:



Yannis, the Syrian thing, I see what you mean. It's the little addition at the end of the scabbard that really does it.

I think maybe "tribal" conveys something unintended when discussing Abyssinian weapons. By the mid-late 1800's they had acquired a lot of European weapons designed to their specifications. The gilding, plating, blueing were all present in weapons imported from the west.

-d