Interesting African Machete

[Lew]

Picked this up the other day at the show probably Manding but I'm not sure.

[Jim McDougall]

Thats really an interesting item Lew. The scabbard looks Tuareg, but the single edge blade seems reprofiled at the tip, and the hilt ? Now there's an anomaly ....reminds me of a shashka, but overall seems like one of the Bedouin swords from Sinai and further east.

All best regards,
Jim

[Freddy]

Never seen anything like this before. But..it's a nice piece. Especially the handle is beautifully decorated.

Perhaps a re-used sabre blade ? :shrug:

[colin henshaw]

Interesting piece...with the style of scabbard plus the wirework on the hilt, it really says West African to me. The circle motif made from the wirework is reminiscent of certain Akan gold jewellery forms.

Whatever, its a fine sword/machete.

Regards

[Lew]

Here is a link to some West African symbols. Seems the top one looks similar?

http://www.adinkra.org/htmls/adinkra_index.htm

[colin henshaw]

Hi

Here are some examples of the sort of Akan (Ashanti/Baule tribes), gold pectorals I was thinking of, incorporating that circular form.

Regards

[Tim Simmons]

Here on this Chamba? arm band it is combined with the crocodile and snake.