Ethiopian Shotel or Gurade to share

[werecow]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Very nice example of an Ethiopian 'gurade' (SE curved blade) which is of course a 'working' example, very nice to see the great scabbard and belt. The blade is of the British M1796 light cavalry type, but could well be the Blucher N1811 as these are so similar. In both cases these are often unmarked so it is harder to determine, especially from pics.

Were both blades used in the region? I also have a gurade with a 1796 profile blade (I can post pics if anyone is interested). FWIW the distal taper on the gurade is significantly more gradual than the blade on my JJ Runkel 1796, and it is not as thick at the base. I've been given to understand that the M1811 were often more forward weighted than the 1796 so I've always just kind of assumed that it's a Blucher blade. But I don't know how much variation there was in either the 1796 or the Blucher so maybe it's meaningless.