Interesting all iron spear. I have never seen one coming from Congo, but I'm still young
(I think
)
I looked it up in some of my books and I discovered the following information :
In 'Dodelijk mooi' (Deadly beauty) I found a (bad) picture of an all metal Congolese spear (page 73). According to the author it originates from the Popoi and/or Makere. These are tribes living in the vicinity of the Mangbetu (and also the Zande).
I'm not saying your spear is from one of these tribes, but these are the only ones I could discover who use all iron spears.
On page 51 in the general description of the different types of weapons, the author states : "the shafts (of the spears) are usually made from wood, but some rare examples exist made entirely of metal.
So, David, hang on to it !
In my collection, I have one all metal spear. This piece is from Kenya or Tansania. It comes from the Masaai. It's a spear used by uncircumcised boys when they watch over the cattle.
This spear resembles a long iron rod, with only the top end flattened to form the spearhead. In Christopher Spring's 'African Arms and Armour' there's a mention of such spears on page 112. There it is called
'esururu'.
I will try to post some pics later on this week