Spiked African Axe

[Johan van Zyl]

Good day to you all. I purchased this african spiked axe many years ago at an auction house and have not managed to ID it at all yet. Please be so kind as to offer your opinions as to its possible ethnographic origin. I would be most pleased.

It has a length of 43 cm.

Johan

[colin henshaw]

Very unusual, it seems to be a combination of styles. There are some axes from the Congo with carved human heads and axes from the Mozambique area with antelope carved heads, incorporating long horns. The flamboyant shaped blade is also atypical. That scorched decoration to the handle is sometimes found on Barotse axes.

Not sure how old it could be. Hopefully someone else can shed more light on the piece.

[Tim Simmons]

Colin beat me to it. I have looked in all my books on African weapons but could not find one picture of an example with quite the same combination of unusual features. In my opinion it is possibly Zambia/Congo border Taabwa people but just a guess. I recently watched a very interesting docudrama about "Spicer-Simson" and the attack of the German navy based on the other side of lake Tanganyika. A nice axe.

[Johan van Zyl]

Colin & Tim, thank you for your comments. I'm on tenterhooks to see if someone else might shed more light on this axe. It seems to be well made and neatly finished, that is why I don't push it aside yet, or relegate it to the "tourist" box. Too bad the auction house could not enlighten me as to its origin. :(
Johan

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

West African ...Congo...see https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393009504966097900/

Not exactly the same ... I suspect there are no copies!!! :shrug: maybe teke? :shrug:

Somewhere in that region ! or an axes throw from it...?

[Johan van Zyl]

Thanks, Ebrahim. Well, the three of you have all suggested "Congo", so maybe that's what it is. I wonder if I'll ever be able to ID this axe with certainty?

Johan