African dagger or short sword

[Cathey]

Hi Guys

I picked this up at a local auction but no idea what it is. Any thoughts?

It is 18 ¼” (46.4 cm) long over all with a 13 ½” (34.4 cm) blade which is 2 ¾” (7 cm) wide at the swollen end. I had thought it might be a Songye, but I couldn’t find anything quite like it in Stones Glossary and African weapons are not my strong point.

[Sajen]

It is a Kuba knife. :) The handle inlays are typical. Here a similar example taken from this site: http://www.africanarms.com/gallery?african-sword-and-knife&ba-page=11

Regards,
Detlef

PS: I don't find an exact match but by the inlays so can see the similarity.

[Cathey]

I have looked at a number of similar items, diregarding the hilt and just concentrating on the unusual blade shape. First I found a similar Kuba short sword posted previously on Ethnographical:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26912&highlight=African+Sword

On the site http://www.memoire-africaine.com/armes2.html
I found the following that again on blade shape looked very similar.

Songye-Eki-Nsapo / Congo 1900-1920
Sword NGALA-Bangala
BENA-LULUA LUBA DRC
Glaive Tchokwé-Lunda 1900 Angola / Zaire

Cheers Cathey