"Moorish" dagger for ID and discussion
 

I got this recently off eBay after a bit of bargaining to a price I found acceptable.

It's gone to live for the moment in my "pile" in the USA until I bring a batch over to Europe.

So I'll just attach the seller images which I think show it off quite well.

I've seen these daggers described as North African, West African, Moorish, does anyone have any well sourced info to what ethnic groups these are actually from?

Nice piece Iain, its very nice!

When I started paying attention to the decoration, it reminded me of some of the bronze work coming from Syria.. could be wrong though :-))

I've usually heard old collectors describe this type of dagger as being from Mauritania (ie. Moorish).

While I don't have specific references to point you to, I would associate this dagger with Senegal. Very similar decoration to other examples from that region plus the metal sleeve over the blade is often seen in daggers from that area.

Mauritania Tuareg Dagger.

Thanks guys,

I've seen elaborate brass/bronze work like this on daggers associated with Senegal and Mauritania as well.

The Tuareg point is interesting - as these differ quite a bit from the usual telek and other arm daggers.

Any chance of a photo of these in the "wild"? I don't recall ever seeing one.