West African ? short sword

[colin henshaw]

This is a fairly recent acquisition, and is a bit of a puzzle. Can anyone help with identification ? Its a sizeable piece, length excluding sheath is 55cm.

I'm thinking maybe Mandingo ? or somewhere else ?

Comments, references etc are also welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Iain]

Nice piece Colin! The overall shape of the hilt reminds me of Hausa daggers. I can't recall seeing an exact match in any references.

[colin henshaw]

Nice piece Colin! The overall shape of the hilt reminds me of Hausa daggers. I can't recall seeing an exact match in any references.

Thanks Iain, glad you like it. You could well be right with Hausa; I see there are daggers on the "AfricanArms" website with similar form hilts, although the blades have mid-ribs and the sheaths are a bit different. I had originally thought of a further west origin, maybe Sudan, but have since discarded the idea.

So, another enigmatic West African piece. Strange there are many books on Congolese traditional weapons, but West Africa has received comparatively little attention...

Apart from by yourself, regarding takouba, of course :)

[CharlesS]

The almost looks Ottoman inspired.

Very attractive piece!