Moroccan " pseudo-shashka"

ariel · 18th March 2019, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kubur

I prefer "Berber sword" and very close to the Bedouin swords seen in the Sinai...

Kubur,

I suspect that the owners of both “Berber” and “Bedouin” varieties could not care less about proper ethnological nomenclature and just called them “saif”:-)

The very name “shashka” is a Russified modification of a local name “ sesh hua”, i.e. “ big knife”. Most of the oriental swords are locally called “ sword” and knives - “knife”.
Bloody savages! No respect for our venerable “ name game”!:-))))

midelburgo · 18th March 2019, 02:20 PM

Ariel, the page I linked is the Oficial Gazette of Nueva Granada, where a search for machete imports have been made. You can see on the left that 144 machetes entered in that week of 1846 as imports.

The pdfs just show that there was no industrial capability to make machetes at that time.
Or previously, as at the time of the colony they were imported from Cataluña or Basqueland. The typical Collins machete is still known in South America as a "vizcaino". It seems they just copied what had been used previously. There are documents on the sale of machetes in America since 1541 at least.

That all three machetes are dated 1845 and ended in North Africa, possibly sustains that the batch never reached Colombia. I cannot imagine it was worthy to re-export them from Colombia where probably there was a chronic shortage of machetes.

ariel · 18th March 2019, 02:50 PM

Thanks. It is useful.

Jim McDougall · 18th March 2019, 09:27 PM

As far as I have known, these triple fuller blades were Solingen products and used for machetes but found naval use of course as well (why they are shown in Gilkerson, "Boarders Away". Solingen, was pretty much inflated with producers after mid 19th c. and there was heavy competition supplying many foreign markets. These were probably blanks stamped by importers as received.

The British did supply some blades to various African markets such as tool makers to Masai in Kenya, and later Wilkinson was supplying blades to Abyssinia. Most of the blades which seem to have turned up in Central America and South America as well as some Caribbean regions from English sources were surplus, not made for export, and these were mostly M1796 cavalry blade types.
These were the blades which seem inevitably to occur on the so called 'Berber sabres', which are actually from Cuba and Dominican Republic.
In the early 1920s during the 'Rif War' there were many forces conscripted from these regions to Morocco to fight the Berber insurgents. While these swords (machete type sabres) were not indiginous to Morocco, they did indeed end up in notable volume there and became 'presumed' to be
'Berber sabres'.

18th March 2019, 02:20 PM	#2
midelburgo Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 264	Ariel, the page I linked is the Oficial Gazette of Nueva Granada, where a search for machete imports have been made. You can see on the left that 144 machetes entered in that week of 1846 as imports. The pdfs just show that there was no industrial capability to make machetes at that time. Or previously, as at the time of the colony they were imported from Cataluña or Basqueland. The typical Collins machete is still known in South America as a "vizcaino". It seems they just copied what had been used previously. There are documents on the sale of machetes in America since 1541 at least. That all three machetes are dated 1845 and ended in North Africa, possibly sustains that the batch never reached Colombia. I cannot imagine it was worthy to re-export them from Colombia where probably there was a chronic shortage of machetes.

18th March 2019, 02:50 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Thanks. It is useful.

18th March 2019, 09:27 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,454	As far as I have known, these triple fuller blades were Solingen products and used for machetes but found naval use of course as well (why they are shown in Gilkerson, "Boarders Away". Solingen, was pretty much inflated with producers after mid 19th c. and there was heavy competition supplying many foreign markets. These were probably blanks stamped by importers as received. The British did supply some blades to various African markets such as tool makers to Masai in Kenya, and later Wilkinson was supplying blades to Abyssinia. Most of the blades which seem to have turned up in Central America and South America as well as some Caribbean regions from English sources were surplus, not made for export, and these were mostly M1796 cavalry blade types. These were the blades which seem inevitably to occur on the so called 'Berber sabres', which are actually from Cuba and Dominican Republic. In the early 1920s during the 'Rif War' there were many forces conscripted from these regions to Morocco to fight the Berber insurgents. While these swords (machete type sabres) were not indiginous to Morocco, they did indeed end up in notable volume there and became 'presumed' to be 'Berber sabres'.