"MOONS" on Kaskara blades

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by stephen wood

there is a town (?) in eastern Nigeria called Dukari

I have one with realistic moons rather than the abstracted ones most often found on takoubas. Whoever stamped them had a separate stamp for left and right - the first one in the thread is the same repeated.

I have heard it said that no European maker used opposed moons - however we have all seen eyelash/eyebrow or other semicircular/elliptical marks upon blades from Europe and India, have we not?

If a blade were worn and sharpened over time the faces of the moons would disappear leaving...the semi-elliptical backs.

http://www.traveljournals.net/explor...45/dukari.html

Hi Stephen,
What a complete coincidence and perfect timing!!! I was just writing on this very topic on Fernando's takouba thread.

Excellent observations you have made, and thank you for the information on the Nigerian city Dukari, which I have added to my notes. Actually in further research I did discover that the parallel moons did indeed appear on some European blades, I believe German, and I think the reference was in Wallace collection catalog. You are absolutely right, the parallel marking system was a European practice, particularly with the 'sickle' markings typically attributed to Genoan origins, then into Styrian and Caucasian centers, later adopted in Indian regions. There remains a great deal of debate on the origins of these markings, which remain a conundrum of course, as they occur primarily on trade blades.

In "European Blades in Tuareg Blades and Daggers" (Dr.Lloyd Cabot Briggs, Vol.V #2, 1965, p.58) the author notes that these moons stamped apparantly with specific dies are known in Eastern Sudan, associated with Hausa swords.

All very best regards,
Jim

P.S.Thank you very much for responding to my earlier post here!!!