Sudanese, of Mahdist form, although whether it is actually of the period is unclear.
The Ansar were supposed to carry three spears into battle,two of them were to throw at the enemy before charging and these were shorter. These shorter spears had a variety of points with points or barbs, often being combined. Then the warrior would charge with the long spear, which was pointed, though not barbed.
The descriptions posted with ebay items are often astounding, and we can only hope that the language barrier might account for the rambling, incongruent and often ridiculous wordings. I have seen some that term the weapon being sold with the names of a number of completely different weapons. Some of the writing reads like imitation Victorian prose, or hyperbole laden adventure stories for young boys.
It would seem that here, with the daily news on these auction listings, there is an ever growing awareness of the monumental importance of caveat emptor!
There are still good buys out there, and hopefully the knowledge shared here will help shoppers in making good choices and hopefully reasonable bargains. Perhaps this buyer knew this was Sudanese, and these are I think somewhat desirable, at least would look great with a grouping of kaskara, shield etc.
Best regards,
Jim
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