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Originally Posted by Tim Simmons
Colin if that is the case, I know the blade is rather like a giant hand made nail, why spend so much time on the scabbard??
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The comment by Iain must be the correct reason, it makes the object both pretty and exotic looking. There seems to be a clear genre of these West African "made for sale" items.... spears with rough metal heads, tins with lids, walking sticks, batons and odd-looking daggers. They all seem to have the same wine coloured leather base with plaited leather-work in narrow strips. Occasionally bits of leopard or other wild cat fur is incorporated. Some of these "tourist" objects can be fairly old, even going back to the 1930/40's is my guess ?
But I also think its true to say that African tourist objects often derive from older patterns made for purely indigenous use and usually of a much higher quality (time and labour). The dividing line between tourist and indigenous use is often blurred and hard to define...