Hi Ian,
The item in discussion is a Sudanese arm dagger or more appropriately a short sword worn on the arm. I do not know of the actual term as they are some of the rarer types of weaponry from Sudan. Historically they have been found in the Darfur and Kordofan regions of the Sudan along the Sahel beltway. I am still unsure what ethnic group they were used by but it could be the Fur, Baggaras, Zaghawa, or other Arabs in the Region. There may be a strong association with Chad as well due to the trans Sahel trade routes in realation to the Tebu blades.
Many examples are found in museum collections while others seem to circulate with collectors every so often, but they are not common. Most look to date from early colonial periods of German, French, Belgian and British exploration to the region from the 1870s - 1890s. Wilhelm Junker has one in his travels in Africa 1875 – 1886 attributed Darfur and Kordofan (Photo Attached.) Another passed through the former Oldman collection.
The blade itself is closely related to Tebu blades as noted by Werecow. They are of spearpoint form with usually triangular and zig-zag incisions. The hilt is in fact a fine horn. The hilt and pommel shape seems to correlate with crescent shaped hilts that can be found in Cameroon to Eritrea on the pommels with these having a spike which is sometimes broken or missing. The sheath would have been presumably crocodile, with tooled leather and a solid leather arm band. There are also similar arm daggers of the type without the crescent shaped pommel, more in the form of Sudanese arm daggers made by I think the Fur. ( I will attach photos from my collection for comparison.)
Tim, the price is not out of reason, as these are quite rare and in demand with African collectors, and with clearly a unique hilt shape. It’s a shame it is missing its sheath. Ian can you send me the original link through PM?
Geoffrey
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