Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Conogre · 7th March 2005, 01:16 AM

I enhanced the photo as much as I could and my suspicion is that the hilt was indeed cast whole and onto the blade....brass and bronze, by the way have substantially lower melting points than iron or steel and were commonly cast onto steel blades, particularly in Africa.As to the crudity of the figures, human shapes are almost always highly stylized on African pieces except for those made in the past 20-30 years, after heavy exposure to western art.
VERY similar faces, for example are seen on the "ribs" or "spokes" that connect the blade to the haft in Songye and Nsapo axes.
As to the blade, you're forgetting one other possibility as to why it wouldn't be much more rusted if it was older than late 19th century, that being that it could have still been in use if it was a highly revered piece.....many tribes to this day are still highly animistic in their religions, having withstood Christian and Muslim influence for centuries, even closer to the original root beliefs than bastardized slave religions like Voodoo.
Often ceremonial pieces are of an heirloom nature, handed down from father to son or mother to daughter, while many prestige or status pieces were buried with the owner.
Mike
ps...for those of you that know me, don't go into shock.....I'd also be careful about more cleaning and highly suggest that you don't use sandpaper on it any more.
My own personal feeling is that you may well do unintentional damage that will both make it harder to ascertain more facts as well as decrease the value.

7th March 2005, 01:16 AM	#3
Conogre Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Clearwater, Florida Posts: 371	I enhanced the photo as much as I could and my suspicion is that the hilt was indeed cast whole and onto the blade....brass and bronze, by the way have substantially lower melting points than iron or steel and were commonly cast onto steel blades, particularly in Africa.As to the crudity of the figures, human shapes are almost always highly stylized on African pieces except for those made in the past 20-30 years, after heavy exposure to western art. VERY similar faces, for example are seen on the "ribs" or "spokes" that connect the blade to the haft in Songye and Nsapo axes. As to the blade, you're forgetting one other possibility as to why it wouldn't be much more rusted if it was older than late 19th century, that being that it could have still been in use if it was a highly revered piece.....many tribes to this day are still highly animistic in their religions, having withstood Christian and Muslim influence for centuries, even closer to the original root beliefs than bastardized slave religions like Voodoo. Often ceremonial pieces are of an heirloom nature, handed down from father to son or mother to daughter, while many prestige or status pieces were buried with the owner. Mike ps...for those of you that know me, don't go into shock.....I'd also be careful about more cleaning and highly suggest that you don't use sandpaper on it any more. My own personal feeling is that you may well do unintentional damage that will both make it harder to ascertain more facts as well as decrease the value.