New acquisition, Croc Kaskara Short sword with Thuluth

[JoeCanada42]

Hi everybody, thanks for any comments or insights.

Acquired via online auction from a seller in the UK
it was listed as antique Sundanese kaskara
said to have crocodile and monitor lizard skin

from my research done mostly on this forum,
I believe this is Mahdist, the pommel looks Nilotic?

I purchased it because I like the overall look, with the European style guard that is turning green to match the skins. and the pommel shape gives it a nice look also. I also like the history and the so called magic imbued, and the mystery, if a translation is possible, it may say something unique.

It is a short sword with a 22 inch blade (56 cm) 28 inch total (70cm) , no scabbard came with it. I don't see a taper, it is not currently sharp, feels bendy not springy. I photo it on the balance point.
I will endeavor to take a photo and highlight the script in paint so that it may perhaps be readable.

[Jim McDougall]

This is pretty interesting Joe, and seems like something put together using authentic components perhaps in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. While the Mahdist period ended with the defeat of the Caliph at Omdurman (Battle of Kerrara) in 1898, the strong influences of the Mahdi remained.

The acid etched thuluth script seems right. The blade is short, but not unusual as kaskara were often shorter when worn in shoulder sling (see attached).

The guard is of course Ottoman, which was readily available in these times and the pommel atypical for kaskara, but known on a number of other weapon forms.
It is possible this was put together with traditional elements and a shortened blade for a faithful follower in later times. As always, there are suggestions of 'tourist souvenir' or something put together for sale in more recent times.
However, the authentic potential is always there as there are many anomalies in the Sudanese panoply of arms which remain 'outside the box'.

The thuluth script was indeed intended to imbue magic into the blade, and mostly swords and other tribal weapons were acid etched with this. This was I believe done mostly in the armory at Omdurman after the Mahdi's death in 1885 just after Khartoum. The script is typically not linear, that is, it is comprised of verses or phrases from the Quran sometimes with interjected other names, invocations. It was long believed this was simply decorative script but found to be authentically worded.
The example shown is of the type made at Omdurman late 1880s-90s for the Ansar (tribal warriors). The brass guard seems typical of these while other kaskara used iron (well described in Ed Hunley's outstanding work held in forum archives).

[JoeCanada42]

Hey Jim, actually most of what I know about this sword is thanks to you.

I like to imagine it was handed out as a reward or payment to a recruit or for accomplishment during the war periods or perhaps in lieu of payment or bounty, perhaps a translation could help figure it out. it does seem genuinely old even if it was used or sold for other purposes. at the price I paid I am happy with it.

I assumed it was a locally made cast alloy guard, do you think it is of ottoman make?
thanks

[JoeCanada42]

got most of it I think

[Teisani]

About the cross-guard, other than Ottoman, could it taken from a European mameluk sabre, like this one? https://www.sabresempire.com/2012/03...uk_04.html?m=1

Although there are some Ottoman guards of similar proportions, like this one. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/31300

The only strange thing about it are the quillon endings, usually they have a circular or polygonal (regulate octogon for example) in cross section. This guard seems to have a rectangular cross section.

[Jim McDougall]

Joe, thank you, and nicely done with imaging the thuluth script.
Teisani, well observed on the guard. Here I will point out that the character of this guard is in 'the style of' the Ottoman types, which were indeed copied by the Europeans in their admiration of the Mamluks in the Egyptian campaigns late 18th-early 19th c.

However, as seen on the kaskara with thuluth blade I posted, the guard is brass rather than iron, and these shops were casting brass components in these times. This example is rough, without the finer ring at the base, and more like locally cast.

After the untimely death of the Mahdi in 1885, the impetus of the jihad was threatened as obviously the death of their Messiah was disconcerting. The Khaliph, in my opinion, began the decoration of the blades on these swords as well as the various tribal weapons from other regions for those tribesmen conscripted into Ansar forces.

Many of these were produced at the Beit al Amana (Omdurman arsenal) however it is believed many of the throwing knives and other forms may have been produced at Khartoum (whose arsenal remained intact after Gordon's downfall in 1885).

The Mahdi was known for his 'magic' and while Briggs noted (1965, p.75) that this script was "...decorative but unreadable designs imitating Qur'anic script, believed to have amuletic value". ...we now know that in many cases there were references to the Mahdi's 'angels' as well as phrases of Islamic piety and war cries, invocations.
While as can be seen, some of the script is repetitive, there are variations with genuine invocations .

This style of Islamic calligraphy, of the forms, thuluth is of course broader and bolder, and known for decorative use on Mamluk arms and metalwork,
The Mamluk traditions were well established in Sudan, and their conservative conventions in arms and armor are likely the source of much influence in Sudanese arms.

Many of the heavily acid etched weapons of varied forms, and atypical in cases were awarded to the tribal chiefs and leaders of the contingents in the Ansar forces, so this may be such an anomaly. Clearly the pommel and guard are non compliant with kaskara, but there were efforts to use weapons of forms of indiginous weapons of other tribes, so perhaps this lunette pommel might be such a case.

The lizard skin (waran) and crocodile hide are totemic symbols of strength and power of the warrior, used widely through Sudan. While many insist these are again, tourist souvenirs, it is known that weapons with these hides were well represented on the battlefield at Omdurman and other actions in these campaigns.

[Teisani]

I agree Jim. It looks like a locally made cross-guard, trying to replicate the Ottoman style.

[JoeCanada42]

Hi, thanks for the info

I will mention I did see this sword

Dervish Sword

https://www.thehighlandersmuseum.com/?p=30010

[Jim McDougall]

Excellent catch Joe!
As they say here in Texas, "well there ya go!".

[kahnjar1]

Here is one I have with Thuluth and with the scabbard of lizzard?? skin.
Stu

[Teisani]

The scabbard seems to be from an African rock python https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent...an_rock_python
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sout...an_rock_python