Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


1005 - Kaskara sword

A nice clean well made kaskara, typical of this type of sword from Darfur, most likely mid 20th century. The hilt and disc pommel (mounted perpendicular to the length of the blade in the usual fashion) are leather covered. A sword knot of black cord is attached on the grip just under the pommel. The cross guard is of iron with simple decoration at the origin of the langet; the arms (quillons) of the iron crossguard have a diamond shaped cross section. The blade does not extend all the way into the scabbard as shown in the photograph below. The blade is 38 inches in length, double edged, with a broad central fuller upon each face running close to the tip. Scattered dark brown rust patches are present with some associated shallow pitting. There are no markings present upon the mildly flexible blade. The scabbard is made of leather with a decorated aluminum throat ferrule and chape. Embossed designs are present on both sides of the scabbard, more detailed on the 'display' side and the scabbard has a flared width towards the tip, in the usual fashion. A short leather sling is attached to somewhat rusty iron rings. The overall length is 44 3/4 inches as shown. The sword (blade and hilt) weigh 37.8 ounces and the total weight with scabbard is 50.6 ounces. All in all, a very nice example of the type.




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