African knife? What country?

[cannonmn]

Please take a look at this discussion, with pictures, and let us know what country the knife is from, what it is called, etc. You are welcome to post your findings there-please do so.

[Lew]

Please take a look at this discussion, with pictures, and let us know what country the knife is from, what it is called, etc. You are welcome to post your findings there-please do so.

I would love to but you need to post the picture first :confused:


Lew

[cannonmn]

Sorry this didn't make it into my initial post:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000199142&tstart=0&mod=1155702356808

[katana]

It certainly looks to be African.....the Sudanese area, probably a likely area...However, many knives and designs seem to be widely distributed in the North, due to trade routes travelled by nomadic tribes. The shark/ray skin is interesting and suggests a coastal area.....but then again the 'skin' could have been traded further inland and then used to adorn the knife....

After looking at it again I think it is an arm dagger, the loop is missing.

[Freddy]

Nice old dagger. I think this dagger is from Cameroon. I don't know the tribe, but there's something familiar in the way the leather handle has been made.

I own an African club which has its shaft covered with leather. There are also insets of other material (snake skin ?). I know this piece comes from Cameroon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding901.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding902.jpg



And here are some leather covered sword handles from Cameroon (the first two pics are from the Bali-tribe) :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding709.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding711.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding702.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding703.jpg

[katana]

IMHO I am almost certain that is shark/ray skin, first pic
The loop on the scabbard looks to be the size and type fitted to arm daggers? Do you think that is the case?

[RSWORD]

IMHO I am almost certain that is shark/ray skin, first pic
The loop on the scabbard looks to be the size and type fitted to arm daggers? Do you think that is the case?

I wouldn't rule out the possibility this is lizard skin, possibly monitor. It has a similar texture/appearance as rayskin.

[Lew]

Gentlemen

I have a similar dagger which may be from the Dan tribe but I am not sure?


Lew

[katana]

Nice dagger Lew.....cant find any other examples of knives from the Dan tribe...all web searches seem to be about Masks and art work from this Tribe...which are mainly located in Liberia.
Thanks RS for your comments, it is differcult sometimes to identify skins purely from photographs.....age, colouring, tanning techniques and general wear and tear obviously can change the appearance. However, I have found close ups of a 'new' Ray skin and a 'new' Monitor lizard skin....I can see now that with wear etc how it could alter its appearance.
The first pic is of the Ray skin

[RobT]

Hi cannonmn,
You may want to check out the old thread "shagreen African"
Sincerely,
RobT

[katana]

Thanks RobT for the thread http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1413&highlight=shagreen+African

......I wasn't wide of the mark afterall ;)