African dagger. Completely stumped

[David]

Originally Posted by blue lander

You're right, they do look identical. Perhaps it is camel bone. If I ever try to sell it I'll definitely categorize it as such.

Well, given the laws surrounding ivory here in the States you certainly wouldn't want to call it that even if it truly was…

[blue lander]

I bought another pair of these , I don't even know why. These look a little different than the others.

[blue lander]

They just arrived. They appear to be made of the same material as the other two, whatever that is. Attached are two closeups of the hilt.

[blue lander]

An auction recently ended on two more of these, nobody bid on it. These have straight blades and the pattern on the hilt looks a bit different.

[Shakethetrees]

But why are the blades made of brass? It's such an inferior material for this purpose that surely it must be they were symbolic or talismanic, and not functional weapons/tools?

This is a question I've had for years since I found mine!

[fearn]

I don't know about parallel cultural development, but I do know that there are machine lathe tools that can produce that knurled handle pattern. I'd suggest common tool use, not some sort of cultural bond.

[blue lander]

The auction for this ended recently, I didn't bid on it. Is it perhaps related to this form? The hilt looks similar and the blade is copper