1924.62.32.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Straight sword [.1] with blade inscribed in Arabic all over on both sides, with t-shaped guard and hilt covered with crocodile skin, with claws on the pommel. The sheath [.2] is of wood, covered with crocodile skin and has a cord of plaited leather with two tassels. [El.B 22/08/2007]

Geographical reference

Sudan, Republic of

Africa > Northern Africa > Sudan, Republic of

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Stevens Auction Rooms

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1920

Date collected

By 1920

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1924

Materials and processes

Material Crocodile Skin Reptile, Material Wood Plant, Material Animal Leather Skin, Material Iron Metal, Process Forged (Metal), Process Carved, Process Stitched, Process Inscribed, Process Plaited

Dimensions

Length: max 660 mm, Length: max 775 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1924.62.32.1 Accession number: 1924.62.32.2

Research and responses

This object is discussed and illustrated in an unpublished and undated (1997) report by Tristan Arbousse-Bastide entitled 'Sudanese Swords from the Pitt Rivers Museum Representative of the "kaskara" Type'. Copy in RDF: Researchers: Arbousse-Bastide. [JC 10 10 2019]

Associated publications

Discussed on page 24 of Nigerian Panoply: Arms and Armour of the Northern Region, by A. D. H. Bihar (no place: Department of Antiquities, Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1964): '...another Pitt-Rivers specimen, a straight sword purchased from H. C. Collyer in 1924, which possesses long cross-shaped steel quillons with forward-projecting prongs (the brise-lames of the French writers) quite characteristic of Sudanese swords.' [JC 10 10 2019].

Search terms: Weapon, Writing, Sword, Sheath, Inscription