A snake in the grass?

[harrywagner]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Harry, I could not resist the very clever allusion in the title 'snake in the grass'
Actually this seems very likely to be a native armourers spurious interpretation of the 'biscione', which indeed in Milanese refers loosely to a type of grass snake.
One of these surmounted by a crown was in medieval times a heraldic arms for the House of Viscionti, then the Duchy of Milan, and variations which carried much further.

While this is a spurious interpretation rather than an actual armourers mark, it does seem to represent an actual armourer of Italian origin as well as a Milanese guild mark (Gardner, 1953, p.360). Apparantly the serpent was also even used (according to references and often disputed) by the mysterious Ferara.

The powerful influence of Italian arms in the Maghreb and well across North
Africa is well established, in fact the pommel form of the koummya itself is often thought to derive from the Italian sword, cinquedea. The straight blade daggers often are termed 'janwi' (djenoui) which loosely refers to Genoa, from which many blades and edged weapons often originated.
Italian blades or Solingen counterparts are often found on 'nimcha'.

This is a handsome example of koumya which appears genuinely intended for traditional wear, and interesting to see the application of this very historical marking.

Thanks Jim. That makes sense to me. The piece is well made enough that I doubt this was whoever made its first piece. Its possible they made a similar mark on other knives. I'll keep an eye open. I like it. It adds to the interest of the piece and is just cartoonish enough to be amusing.