Takouba with 4 fullers

[Iain]

Originally Posted by blue lander

Is there any way to date the blade or narrow down what ethnic group it originated from? It's obviously seen a hard life and there's not much left of it, but at least I'm reasonable sure it isn't a tourist piece.

Tourist piece is a bit of a misnomer with regards to takouba in my opinion. While takouba are still made and certainly sold to tourists, they are also sold to local customers who continue to use and wear them, mainly for traditional events like durbars.

Your example is fairly recent, I would guess made in it's entirety in the last 30 odd years.

The scabbard appears Tuareg to me.