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Old 6th October 2020, 11:39 AM   #8
Martin Lubojacky
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Czech Republic
Posts: 836
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Hello Francantolin,

Unfortunatelly, this is purely touristic piece, probably made in Addis Ababa, and made recently. This one resembles Oromo shield. I think they started to make such copies ca 15 years ago.

Coins: Originally, coins were not used to decorate shields in Ethiopia. Any flat metal ornaments used to be attached to the surface of the shield by piercing the leather through (never by gluing).

Handle mounting: Method of attachment (exact type of the node) is always visible in the case of original (except of the cases when it is covered by metal bulge).

Material: In the case of original, you can always see how the thick leather is bent along the perimeter of the sield circle - on the reverse side. Covering this bends with plasticine materials was not in use (the same in the case of the handle mounting). I was informed by Ehiopian wendors that they used mixture of glue and wood sawdust during the production of such copies.

Export of original shields from Ethiopia is officially prohibited since I remeber (last 25 years for sure; - nevertheless, this fact is not significant for determining the authenticity of the shields.)

Best regards,
Martin
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