African piece for coments
 

I guess this from Kenia. The seller was so ignorant of the weapons theme that she called it Portuguese :eek:
Is it called a simi or a seme ?
Blade length 37 cms. with a central ridge in both sides.
Total length 49,5 cms ( 19 1/2" ); quite a short specimen, right ?
With 400 grams, it feels amazingly heavy, i would say like a weapon.
The grip is covered by what seems to be very thin leather, "tightened" with a nice twisting efect at its front end. Surprisingly, no seam visible.
The tang goes trough all the grip, and it's bent at the top.
Could those members with more experienced eyes tell what tribe this is from ? is it Kikuyu, or other?
Also a opinnion on its aproximate age would be wellcome.
And obviously any other coments at all.
Thanks a lot
Fernando

Looks like a weapon. Looks like a seme. I have never seen one like this. I do wonder if this is a Congo weapon. Is there some triangular decoration on the edge of the blade? Freddy may be able to give more information.

Just been looking in a few books and it is an East African knife. looks to be a nice old piece. :eek:

Looks like one of these. The book the picture is from says Massai but I would not take that as the be all and end all.

Thanks a lot Tim, for both coments and drawing.
So it is a seme, not a simi !
No decorations at all. Only signs of age. A little mark on the edge may be no more that a little forging defect.
Let's see what Freddy comes up with ... if he will please ;) .
Obviously also any other members are wellcome to coment :) .
Fernando

It seems to be an older Simi/Seme sword from the Massai.


Lew

Thanks a lot for your input, Lew. Would you say prior to 1900 ?
Fernando

I agree with Lew. This is an older seme from the Masai.

I once read somewhere that older seme always have a prominent middleribe. This is the case with your sword. Newer ones are often grind down from European machetes or just from a flat piece of metal.

The leather covered handle also shows some age, I think.

The size is right. My seme measures 51 cm, so that's about the same size.

Dank u wel, Freddy :) .
I will register it as a Maasai piece, and am pleased is not modern stuff, as also the price wasn't so bad ... for my place :shrug:
If we don't see before:
Zalig Kerstfeest :)
Fernando