Spearhead identification
 

Hello. I was gifted this spearhead a while ago and so far my efforts to identify its provenance have been futile. I have the suspicion that it is Central African, but I am not really sure. The edges are sharpened, and it is quite robust in spite of not being very thick.

Does anyone know anything about this piece (region of origin, age)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Changdao, welcome to the Forum!

This wide bladed, socketed spear head with a central ridge looks African to me. I'm no authority on these, but I think it is from the Tetela people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are others forumites more knowledgeable than me who can give you a definitive answer.

I hope you will enjoy your stay here...

Regards, Ian

This could also be a spear of the Pangwe (Fang) West-Africa (Cameroon, Gabon):

Günter Tessmann: The Pangwe 1913, S. 246
Description: gbun-akon (akon = spear) (a)

I've looked around a bit and I think that this is correct. I found a very similar spear in the British Museum collection.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collec...ject/E_Af-5724

Here is another historical document with a better description (note the last sentence!):

L. A. D. Montague - Weapons and Implements of Savage Races 1921, P.183/184

Best regards Peter

Thank you for the additional reference. It is really interesting how knowing its context has transformed this piece from "a neat thing to have" to " actually really cool".

On a side note, this piece was a gift from my father, who also gifted to me this year as Three Wise Men present a really nice béro sword of the Ngombe. He actually has absolutely no knowledge of antique weaponry, so I don't know if he has been lucky or has a natural keen eye for quality antiques.