German Trade Blades

[M.carter]

Originally Posted by roanoa

Hi guys. Just to share a couple of thoughts on the subject of imported blades. A few historical considerations first. The French were very "cozy" with the Ethiopians. In Menelik's time, French was the official diplomatic language and Court records were kept in French. The French also built the first railroad (Addis Abeba - Dire Dawa to the Somali coast). So one will find MANY French blades in Ethiopia. Some clearly marked, some rather anonymous. The German were masters in East Africa till WWI when they lost their colonies to the Brits. So they were neighbours. Easy enough for their blades to find a market. British blades became popular after WWI. Kenya and British Somalia being good neighbours with Ethiopia. British blades were held in such a high esteem that the word LONDON was used by the Ethiopians to mean EXCELLENT. Finally one must consider that the blades were not imported by the "government" but by suppliers, mostly of Armenian origin, who would market them on the Harar and Addis Abeba markets. Many blades would carry the name of the importer/supplier (like TERZIAN) and these name are often, wrongly, thought to be the name of the makers.

Other than trade blades, have you seen any military issue blades on ethiopian swords? Ive seen a pattern 1822 on an arabian sayf once, that was really cool.

[roanoa]

Originally Posted by M.carter

Other than trade blades, have you seen any military issue blades on ethiopian swords? Ive seen a pattern 1822 on an arabian sayf once, that was really cool.

I have one with a mint French military blade (haven't found out which pattern yet), one with a German light cavalry blade and one with a British patten 1796 hatchet point (unfortunatelly this one is badly rusted.).

[M.carter]

Ive just seen the other sword. The writing on the ricasso reads:

GHKHA & Co

HARRAR

Now I know that harrar was a town in Abyssinia, but does anyone know what the letters in the first line says?