Three African spears for ID

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Christopher Spring's, "African Arms and Armour" page 38 has a picture of a lancer of the Sultan of Bagirmi with a double headed lance very similar to No.2.
Regards
Richard

Hi Richard,

I believe the illustration you mention is the taken from Denham, from memory Nachtigal reproduced it as well.

I'd had some hopes this spear would be from that region - but sadly, once it was in hand it became fairly obvious it wasn't. The scale of the heads is not correct and the construction and details like the shape of the shaft are not correct for the Bagirmi region. Certainly an interesting style and I still hope someday to acquire an example.