Nimcha markings

[Pieje]

Thx for this info!
Here a detailed pic of the inscriptions on both sides.

[Jim McDougall]

The subject of markings on the swords of North Africa, from kaskara and takouba as well as these sa'if commonly termed 'nimcha' is wrought with debate and speculation. While we know huge volumes of European blades entered these spheres and trade networks for virtually centuries, it is known that native armorers became skilled in producing blades as well.

In the case of these triple fuller single edge sabre blades it appears these are a Solingen type which was produced from around mid 18th c. well into 19th. While as noted, native armorers could produce blades, the availability of incoming trade blades was such it became unnecessary.

This example is indeed 'classic' as it is among possibly hundreds of the exact form and uncertain of how often I have seen these markings in similar configuration. The markings themselves are replications of some seen on both German and Spanish blades. The crosses are sometimes seen on koummya blades and resemble old Spanish types. The moon is an almost fanciful rendition of the magic/talismanic astral types seen on European blades.

It seems that there must have been certain entrepots in North Africa which applied these kinds of markings copying European ones onto the blades which came in as trade materials, From there they went to trade clients and into the networks.

These nimchas seem to date mid 19th into early 20th c. and as noted exist in some volume with certain variants of markings on blades. Briggs (1965) shows an example of one blade with variant markings.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

It seems that there must have been certain entrepots in North Africa which applied these kinds of markings copying European ones onto the blades which came in as trade materials, From there they went to trade clients and into the networks.

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Interesting point, Jim. In the case of the blade under discussion, maybe the letters aren't supposed to mean anything, like a specific name. Could well be that the workers at these entrepots, who may or may not have been literate, just put what could pass for Roman letters on a blade to add cachet to a product.

I'm sure you are familiar with the blades and, more commonly, barrels on weapons made in the Balkans with similar dodgy markings. Like badly misspelled versions of the name Lazarino Cominazzo. Or the cryptic sequences of capital letters repeated in sequential patterns done in imitation , albeit more crudely executed, of similar sequences seen in the fullers of rapier blades made by smiths in the town of Caino, in Lombardy. I've seen some of these letter patterns in which the characters appear to be derived from both Roman and Cyrillic letters.

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Philip, as you note these letters are likely renditions of European words, phrases, invocations, and often names. These phenomenon in blade markings have fascinated me for as long as I can remember, and the following is much of the perspective I have developed, hopefully somewhat accurately.

The characters, which may not be accurately rendered in the conventions of European alphabets, were probably of course simply meant to suggest quality.

As you mention, Caino was well known for lines of seemingly nonsensical letters, sometimes in curious repetition.
It is believed that this was a European convention of acrostics representing certain phases or invocations which had particular esoteric meanings.
These evolved in degree from combinations of varied religious applications including kabbalistic and often entwined with magic, occult and other connected symbolism including Masonic.

The interpolation of numbers and letters sometimes is involved as well, as letters may have numerical value, and vice versa, depending on the case at hand.

With such esoterica, even literate workers in Europe had difficulty duplicating these intricate systems of arcane lettering accurately if not properly initiated, let alone workers in other cultures trying to approximate them.

Good point on the combining of Roman and Cyrillic letters, and often even certain 'magical' symbols can be entwined in these kinds of groupings. It is hard to imagine what actual values were perceived by native artisans applying these letters and marks, but suggestion of quality was likely the end result sought.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

As you mention, Caino was well known for lines of seemingly nonsensical letters, sometimes in curious repetition.
It is believed that this was a European convention of acrostics representing certain phases or invocations which had particular esoteric meanings.
These evolved in degree from combinations of varied religious applications including kabbalistic and often entwined with magic, occult and other connected symbolism including Masonic.

The interpolation of numbers and letters sometimes is involved as well, as letters may have numerical value, and vice versa, depending on the case at hand.

With such esoterica, even literate workers in Europe had difficulty duplicating these intricate systems of arcane lettering accurately if not properly initiated, let alone workers in other cultures trying to approximate them.

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In a European context, this tradition is explained very well by Oakeshott in Ch 12 of his masterful The Archaeology of Weapons which I am sure you have in your library. For the benefit of forumites who do not, here is an example he cites from a medieval Frankish blade:

SOSMENCRSOS with the N and R run together back to back and the
C intertwined into that combo and the Os enclose the
adjacent Ss.
He analyzes it as an acronym for a religious phrase, O Sancta Maria, Eripe me [rescue me] O CRiste Sancte... Keep in mind that in Latin, word order is flexible so transposition of letters in the acronym would not necessarily result in loss of meaning.

In a non-Christian context, there is a strong tradition of assigning numerical values to letters in the Hebraic tradition, in a codifying system that was also borrowed by peoples using Arabic script. Hence, "786" was a convenient numerical expression for the phrase Bismillah al-Rahmân al Rahîm which introduces each book in the Koran. These developments should be looked at in the light of the fact that in classical Mediterranean civilizations, numerals were represented by letters-- not only the Romans, but the Greeks and Israelites did so as well. A dedicated set of symbols, using zero as a place-holder in decimal numeration, originated in India and is the root of our "Arabic" numerals. An immeasurable gift to the world of mathematics, it made developments like algebra, calculus, etc etc possible. Imagine doing your tax return using Roman numerals and you'll see why,

[Edster]

I can't comment on the meaning of the marks nor their specific origin, but I've looked at some blade forum conversations, and experienced bladesmiths always recommend to apply stamped maker's marks to virtually complete annealed blades before heat treatment.

The marks on the subject blade are deep and well formed considering its surface condition. Thus, to me, the marks were made at the point of manufacture rather than sometime after it left the factory. Being a cross-theme suggests a Christian/European origin.

By the 19th C. and most likely well before, European swords were made by several separate craftsmen: forgers, fuller makers, finishers and heat treaters among others. It almost looks like a finisher went nuts with the cross stamp and really added lots of random marks before he sent it on to the heat treat operation. Other than the letters, I just don't see a rational plan here.

Best regards,
Ed

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you again Philip for further detailing these circumstances with numbers and letters in these key blade marking combinations. While complex it is in my view fascinating as this imbuements on blades were so integrally important.

Ed and Philip, one of the greatest conundrums for me in understanding, from metallurgical perspective, can blades be stamped with these kinds of marks after they are finished?

I have always taken crude or poorly formed stamped marks as the work of native craftsmen or importers, and added as they reached entrepots for dispersing into trade networks.

In some cases it has been presumed that certain blades, for example kaskara types, may have been produced explicitly for export to North Africa. These were stamped at the forte with the 'fly' mark of Kull, but it seems other marks were added after that.

I have seen remarks, I think in Briggs. where it is noted that small fracture lines occur around the area of a stamp so applied. Also, there are the dukari moons applied on a blade over the already applied thuluth acide etched calligraphy.