late 17th or 18th century French blade

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Iain, its one of those blade patterns that I just know Ive seen, but cannot place it. I know the motif is often seen on European blades of 17th-18th as I noted, but it seems mostly on sabres and hangers. I thought Wagner might have something but didn't.
As Colin has noted, and you confirmed, it is tempting to consider this blade and hilt are homogenous to the original arrival of the blade in the Saharan sphere. While the blades into Sudan are generally in much later context primarily via Mamluk contexts it seems, we know that blades were coming into the Sahara far earlier.

I hope others keep an eye out for one of these blades, I know I will.

Hi Jim, I don't want to diverge too far into the blade trade in this thread, however the Mamluk context for the trade is generally earlier rather than later.

Back to the topic at hand, the pattern seems closest to examples dating from the 30 years war period. The attached is a German piece with a similar two fuller configuration.