Help with 3 'Cross of Agades' daggers

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Iain has tenaciously shown these methods in the remarkable research he has completed on Sahelian and North African edged weapons in general. His years of research focused not just on the weapons, but those peoples who used them. With these studies have not only advanced our knowledge of these weapons, but proven that the study of ethnographic weapons is a viable factor in anthropological and historic disciplines. Most importantly not just learning about the weapons, but their history THROUGH them.

Very kind Jim but outside of the takouba my knowledge if frightfully lacking!

Regarding the example posted by Miguel I think this is a more recent work, I would guess from modern day Nigeria. It could well be simply a show piece to be worn at events like a durbar and thus not requiring any particular practicality in terms of handle size, but more of a fashionable accoutrement as part of tradition costume. Or it could be as suggest for a child, or simply an example of local brass work intended as a souvenir.

I certainly didn't mean to discourage attempts to arrive at a classification or attribution, we can certainly recognize elements that point to a place of manufacture and in some cases the last user with leather-work etc. providing valuable clues. While I doubt, due to the nature of these weapons and their role in society, we will ever arrive at something as precise as the tribal attributions possible for example with Congolese arms, there is always more to learn and puzzle out!