Indian axe

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by estcrh

I was a little surprised myself, small world. Your axe is one of only a few examples I know of with a rear facing spike, as for auction house descriptions, they range from very accurate to completely wrong so you have some info to work with but it would be nice to find some other verification. I would not think that this axe was meant for use on horseback as it has no hole in the shaft for a lanyard and the butt of the shaft has no raised area to tie a lanyard around.

Good point about the lack of a fixing area for a lanyard. The axe is quite sturdy and heavy, and there is an iron plate extending down the middle of the shaft from the axehead. Feels and looks more like a "user" than a parade item. Presumably the spike at the back of the axehead would be for piercing a metal helmet ?

Any other information on this axe is welcome.