Sword

Object Details

Donor Name

Ralph G. Packard

Note re photos: Neg. #2005-25306 is color digital of sword. Neg. #2005-25307 is color digital detail shot of sword blade showing two adjacent sections of script. From card: "Back-curved, single-edged steel blade with two grooves on each side. Most of each side covered with four large sections of acid applied designs which have been said to be portions of the Koran in Arabic but which apparently are only designs and not actually a language (Dr. Gus Van Beek) Similar to Cat. nos. 325207 & 360045.. Simple wooden handle expanding slightly at each end of the grip. (One corner broken off) Refer: Stone: "Glossary of Arms and Armor", p. 365, fig. 459, no. 21 and 23. It has been called a "dervish sword." Transferred from Mil. Hist. Jan. 1966." Locality on catalogue card is listed as "Omduran, Sudan." This is probably in fact Omdurman (capital of Mahdist Sudan, across the river from Khartoum). - F. Pickering 1-29-2008 Illus. Fig. 11.8, p. 134 in Kreamer, Christine Mullen, and Sarah Adams. 2007. Inscribing meaning writing and graphic systems in African art. [Washington, D.C.]: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art. Identified there as saber inscribed with pseudo-Arabic, Sudan, late 19th to early 20th century. Note: Exhibit bracket for this object is stored with the object. Bracket was made for "Inscribing Meaning" exhibit.

Record Last Modified

7 Jul 2021

Specimen Count

1

Accession Date

6 May 1943

Accession Number

164794

USNM Number

E404668-0

Object Type

Sword

Length - Object

92.5 cm

Place

Sudan, Africa

See more items in

Anthropology

NMNH - Anthropology Dept.

Topic

Ethnology

Record ID

nmnhanthropology_8434272

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3e4e66462-aae5-41d7-9668-5b16fb3cfb51