Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - African Three-Dagger sets

colin henshaw · 9th December 2012, 10:10 AM

Hi

I've read this thread with interest. I've seen a lot of these flimsy, flat bladed Sudanese items with the acid etched "thuluth" over the years, and came to the conclusion that most if not all, were made post Anglo-Egyptian conquest of 1898, for resale to Europeans. As already noted, they are usually fairly crudely made, with blunt edges and I doubt if they were intended as real weapons.

There is a theory that within this genre, similar sheet iron "throwing knives" were made during the Mahdist era, for use by those elements of the Mahdist armies made up of black, non-Islamic warriors. So there is a possibilty these "tourist" items derived from this source - but thats only a theory... I would certainly like to see some hard documentary type of evidence to conclusively solve the origin of these objects.

Question : the sheet iron imported from Europe ??

9th December 2012, 10:10 AM	#24
colin henshaw Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,429	Hi I've read this thread with interest. I've seen a lot of these flimsy, flat bladed Sudanese items with the acid etched "thuluth" over the years, and came to the conclusion that most if not all, were made post Anglo-Egyptian conquest of 1898, for resale to Europeans. As already noted, they are usually fairly crudely made, with blunt edges and I doubt if they were intended as real weapons. There is a theory that within this genre, similar sheet iron "throwing knives" were made during the Mahdist era, for use by those elements of the Mahdist armies made up of black, non-Islamic warriors. So there is a possibilty these "tourist" items derived from this source - but thats only a theory... I would certainly like to see some hard documentary type of evidence to conclusively solve the origin of these objects. Question : the sheet iron imported from Europe ?? Last edited by colin henshaw; 9th December 2012 at 10:43 AM.