Ethiopian Amharic shield
 

Another item recently 'excavated' as I go through things, I have had for over 20 years but know little beyond the description noted. If I understand correctly these were primarily 'dress' type shields and status oriented and Amharic.
Any ideas on how this one might be dated?

Again, need the help of those of you specializing in these kinds of Ethiopian arms.

Anybody have photos of these in use?

Thank you guys,
Jim

On the contrary, these were not just "dress" shields but used for war, at least back into the 19th century and beyond. Within the chewa warrior system of Ethiopia, there was a prideful culture of display and trophy taking, so that a warrior would ascend to the ranks ideally to dejazmach. A dejazmach was the rank inmediately under ras or king, and could lead military expeditions and command divisions of the army when leading under a ras or even the emperor.

There were two types of dejazmach: yewech dejazmach and balenegarit dejazmach. The latter were more senior, fewer in number, and were allowed to use and display the gold regalia including on shields that ras and above also used. The former, which were the majority, were allowed to use silver regalia, including shields with silver bands arranged in a pattern like in OP's shield.

My source here is Ethiopian Warriorhood: Defence, Land and Society 1800–1941 by Tsehai Berhane-Selassie

Another highly prestigious military figure below the Dejazmach was the so-called Fitawrari, who was also required to have a sturdy round shield decorated with metal (perhaps no longer with silver?; but the decoration on his shield was reportedly considered a necessity).

A Fitawrari was the "commander of the advance guard", and this title functioned sort of in parallel with the others. A Fitawrari commanded a group of picked men from all the contingents of the army called werari that was deployed half a day's march before the main force as a scouting force and also intending to draw out the enemy to a disadvantageous position. Then in battle they had a place of honour, and in big armies could even have their own subwings containing ras and dejazmacht. Neguse Nagast often gave this position in their own armies to the highest ranking and/or most trusted Ras or Dejazmach

A Fitawrari could be concurrently a Dejazmach or Ras, but title-holders of dejazmach degree were allowed to appoint a Fitawrari at will. So the actual rank of a Fitawrari would change a lot between regional, royal or imperial armies.

Jim, is the shield made of leather or of sheet metal (later they were also made of metal)? What material is the metal decoration made from? Your shield—and its age—would probably be best evaluated by Ron, who is an expert in this field. I myself think it is a "dress" shield from around the first third of the 20th century. For example, shields from the period of the Battle of Magdala (1868) had different metal elements (see the photo of Captain Speedy and Prince Alemayehu), and it is probably not from the turn of the century either, though I may be mistaken. I’m attaching several old images. In one of them is the old Ras Nasibu (on foot with a spear and shield in hand). Unfortunately, those photos are not dated.

Thank you Martin, great images!!!
Im not sure, need to get hold of it again, but Im inclined to think it was velvet covered metal and totally agree with your assessment of dress c. 30s.