Unknown sickle

[Peter B.]

Hello all together.
I'm new to the forum as a member and I would like to thank for all the usefull informations I found here till today as anonymous reader.
I'm living in Germany and I'm mainly interested in african and indonesian weapons.

To start here I want to show a sickle shaped weapon or tool which I have never seen before. I have no idea what it could be. I would be glad if someone can help to identify this item.

I bought it some years ago at a weapons fair; I found it in a box with indian stuff, all of it defect and mostly scrab. This was the only thing there that was in a nearly reasonable condition.

But to me it looks not as from India.

The sickle is very heavy, it weights nearly 1kg. It is 51cm long and the sickle-part has a triangular cross-section with 1cm wide at the back. If it is a tool, than you can use it only like an axe, but not as a sickle .

All ideas about origin and usage are welcome.

Thanks and best regards
Peter

[Tim Simmons]

Look very much African.

[Pieje]

Looks like a Tutsi or Shi sickle sword (Congo, Rwanda)

https://ertribal.com/index.php/tribal-art/blades/womans-sickle-wood-handle-mugishu-umuhoro-rwanda

[Peter B.]

Thanks for your answers.

African was also my first idea because of the bend tang at the bottom of the grip - a typical african way to fasten the grip to the tang. But maybe someone elsewhere had the same idea...

Sure it looks similar to a Tutsi sickle, but I have never seen such a form. The Tutsi sickles I know have allways the ?-shape at the upper part and a flat profile there.

[Peter B.]

No more ideas on this strange item???

[Peter B.]

I did some more research and found a few more images on the web, all labeled as Indian.

In a Russian article about Indian weapons, I found a drawing of a similar object with the following explanation:
"Figures 72 and 73 are objects used for collecting the sap and fruit of the Palmyra palm."

I can easily imagine it being used for this purpose.