Camel/Horse Whip
 

Hello All.

I recently picked this up at auction. Appears to be a camel or horse whip. I'm guessing camel. LOL It's very well made, and appears to be old. A few of the pearl inlays are missing, but should be easy to replace. The pearl inlays tell me this might be Afghan. And I thought it would be a nice addition to one of my Afghan gun belts. LOL

Rick

AND ONE MORE PIC.......

Very nice Rick. I like it a lot. My guess would also be Afghan but then pearl inlays were used in North Africa as well. Maybe one of our members who is into bondage :p :p , might have a better idea as to origin.
Stu

LOL!!!

Hi Stu

Thanks. Again, I thought it would be a cool additional accessory for one of the Afghan belts. This is the first decorated one I've seen. Shows regular use.

Rick

Looks very much like an Afghan buzkashi whip I have.

I'll second that. It is Afghan, for Buzkashi.
The base of the lash is flared to allow it to be held
in the teeth. The quality, motifs and
condition date it in the 1960s-70s.

Horses were very well trained for Buzkashi. These crops
were used primarily on opponents.

Thank you Bob and Oliver for your input. Much appreciated. It's always good to be able to make a more positive ID for an item. I looked up Buzkashi. I would have never guessed. So probably 1960/70's. I noticed the leather on the heart shaped piece does not look that old. As well, the support nails look more 20th Centry. So, this whip would not really be correct as an accountrement for an Afghan gun belt. Darn. But it will probably look good hanging from one of the belts anyway. LOL
Thanks again gentlemen for your ID. Much appreciated.

Rick

The heart-shaped piece provides a means of carrying the whip; it's essentially held by the rider's teeth. His hands are busy with reins and occasionally goat carcass.

You have it nailed >>I was in Kabul a few years ago and they were still using these in that game Buzkashi and as Oliver was describing often the opposition got hit with it!! the souk had loads of them in Chicken Street. :shrug: