African Takouba with early(?) European (?) blade

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

Hey Jim,

I'm thinking along the same lines as you are. My guess is that the blade is 16th or 17th century European. From what I can see from some of the plate separation is that the blade looks normal from the shoulder into the plates. I don't think it is a rewelded blade. I have wondered if there was a blade marking that was covered for some reason. Maybe they didn't like the marking. Otherwise, in this case, it seems purely decorative. Can't see any other reason why it would be on there.

It is my impression that brass had a highly apotropaic character in these regions in the folk religions that were practiced pretty much intertribally.
The position of the bolster/adabal on that section of the blade I am thinking must have been following the conventions of such placement on the blade. I'm not sure hiding a marking would have been done. A blade with a marking which had bad connotation would have been avoided, but I have not heard of any such instances.