Kaskara with a peculiar maker mark

[werecow]

Certainly the "pommel", if we can call it that, looks very Sudanese - at least the side of it we can see in the pictures, including the little nail that is holding the leather together (compare to the one below from a more typical kaskara). It is interesting to me how that pommel alone gives the entire sword a "kaskara" feel even when the rest of it is not entirely typical.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by werecow

Certainly the "pommel", if we can call it that, looks very Sudanese - at least the side of it we can see in the pictures, including the little nail that is holding the leather together (compare to the one below from a more typical kaskara). It is interesting to me how that pommel alone gives the entire sword a "kaskara" feel even when the rest of it is not entirely typical.

EXACTLY!
That is the thing with weapons, they do not always follow exact patterns, nor necessarily adhere to distinctly matching elements. As various weapons filtered into different spheres through trade routes networking through many tribal spheres, it is reasonable to presume certain workers or shops might alter their designs or methods according to other influences.It is interesting that there were apparently European workers in some degree in these shops who had been in Khartoum from Gordon's time.

This saber I have, which reflects of course Ottoman influence, has a shamshir style blade which is of a Turkish form of damascus (I'll leave that to the experts here). There is a 'kaskara' feel to the hilt combined with the bulbous Ottoman hilt, the lozenge cross hatch is mindful of such motif on the Darfur hilts of the so called Ali Dinar period in early 20th c. and the Kassala style hilts.
As Ed has noted, scabbard style may add to classification, note the distinct Sudanese style with flared tip.

On a side note to that I have always found it curious that the Manding sabers of Mali have that same flared feature on their scabbards. I have brought that up any times on these pages without response.

[werecow]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

On a side note to that I have always found it curious that the Manding sabers of Mali have that same flared feature on their scabbards. I have brought that up any times on these pages without response.

Yes, I've always found that curious as well! I took that to be some sort of selective cultural cross pollination, or possibly a case of convergent evolution as a tip reinforcement on fully leather scabbards (and then I got a hold of a manding sword where the tip had poked through anyway and a kaskara that had a metal chape, so... ).