papua bone dagger ?

[francantolin]

Hello everybody,

I saw this item and could not resist to buy it,
I think it is a papuan bone dagger with his scabbard.
Not too big , total length is 32cm / 12,6 inches

I read that there were/are often made with cassowary bone femur
/ human bone time ago...

I wonder about age, exact origin and kind of bone
( why not ''just'' wild pig femur per example ?? )

An old item ?
What do you think ?

Than you !

[kahnjar1]

What you have is indeed a PNG dagger made from a Cassowary leg bone. More likely the bird rather than a human bone.
The Cassowary has a rather nasty attitude and is well capable of killing a human.
A word of caution here....the CITES agreement could well cover this dagger.
Pic of the nasty bird attached.
Stu

[francantolin]

Hello,
Thank you for your comment,

I know they are cassowary in Queensland in Australia too
I went there once years ago but didn't see this really strange bird
( maybe better ;) ... )
Mother nature is amazing !

I didn't find models with a scabbard on internet,
are they common ?

Thank's a lot about the CITES precision

Kind regards

[Sajen]

Hello,

At first here an interesting thread about bone daggers: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14380&highlight=asmat+bone+dagger
Your dagger could be a Dani or Itamul dagger, they come often with this scabbards.

There are no CITES regulations about cassowary articles, only the Australian cassowary is protected so far I know.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

Forget, the real age of your dagger is difficult to determine, this daggers get worked until today, often for the collector market. You need to look to the patination from the bone. Real old or antique ones can be very expensive!

[kino]

This one is

Not a tourist item (http://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/14/florida-cassowary-attack-man-dies-after-encounter-with-worlds-deadliest-bird/?noredirect=on)

I believe it was recently up for sale.

[Sajen]

This one is

Not a tourist item (http://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/14/florida-cassowary-attack-man-dies-after-encounter-with-worlds-deadliest-bird/?noredirect=on)

I believe it was recently up for sale.

:D :D

[francantolin]

: ) Thank you !

Fo age-patina of the bone,
I guess there are a lot of ''fake'' old item artificially aged
with polish - walnut stain ( brou de noix in french...) per example,

I leave it for specialists ! Especially if it can cost really much !!!

Mine was not expensive, sure not an old one !

Kind regards

Franck