Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - "regular" VOC sword or ethnograpical object?

Jim McDougall · 17th October 2007, 04:55 AM

This is an interesting sword that seems in line with quite modern weapons seen in West Africa, as has been noted. Some have standard type stirrup hilts of European military form, while this, as has been mentioned seems in line with many European hunting hangers.
I think Tim has a very good suggestion on the zoomorphic hilt representing the leopard. It seems that the leopard totem was significant in secret societies as well as other cultural symbolism as he has mentioned.
The multinational trade that prevailed on the west coast of Africa during the 18th century diffused many weapons into these regions and may account for what appears to be an 18th c. blade here.

I agree that it is extremely rare to find a VOC marked blade, as in my collecting days I tried for many years unsuccessfully to find one! It seems they did turn up occasionally on Sinhalese kastanes (for some reason the year 1768 seems predominant on those examples).

I am curious about the note about the markings on this blade which note the markings apply to the Amsterdam department of VOC. I was not aware that the different cities used different markings.....is there any way to know the differences.....just in case any of us might get lucky enough to find one of these rare blades?

I would really appreciate knowing more on this and hope those of you with keen insight into this seldom discussed topic might comment.

17th October 2007, 04:55 AM	#12
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,194	This is an interesting sword that seems in line with quite modern weapons seen in West Africa, as has been noted. Some have standard type stirrup hilts of European military form, while this, as has been mentioned seems in line with many European hunting hangers. I think Tim has a very good suggestion on the zoomorphic hilt representing the leopard. It seems that the leopard totem was significant in secret societies as well as other cultural symbolism as he has mentioned. The multinational trade that prevailed on the west coast of Africa during the 18th century diffused many weapons into these regions and may account for what appears to be an 18th c. blade here. I agree that it is extremely rare to find a VOC marked blade, as in my collecting days I tried for many years unsuccessfully to find one! It seems they did turn up occasionally on Sinhalese kastanes (for some reason the year 1768 seems predominant on those examples). I am curious about the note about the markings on this blade which note the markings apply to the Amsterdam department of VOC. I was not aware that the different cities used different markings.....is there any way to know the differences.....just in case any of us might get lucky enough to find one of these rare blades? I would really appreciate knowing more on this and hope those of you with keen insight into this seldom discussed topic might comment.