Group of small African knives for comments

Pieje · 15th January 2026, 10:23 AM

You did well Ian, I remember this set being sold.
These knives are all authentic and used, some fairly late (post 1950s).
The left one is interesting, classic Holo (close to the Yaka), it's a circumcision knife, a similar one is figured in Felix, 1987. 100 peoples of Zaire and their sculpture.
Right one is Luba, known type of knife, but a late one though.
Mangbetu for n°3 seems correct. N°4 could be Songye by the deco on the blade.

These have nothing to do with those tourist pieces from Zanzibar shown above.

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15th January 2026, 10:23 AM	#9
Pieje Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Belgium Posts: 143	You did well Ian, I remember this set being sold. These knives are all authentic and used, some fairly late (post 1950s). The left one is interesting, classic Holo (close to the Yaka), it's a circumcision knife, a similar one is figured in Felix, 1987. 100 peoples of Zaire and their sculpture. Right one is Luba, known type of knife, but a late one though. Mangbetu for n°3 seems correct. N°4 could be Songye by the deco on the blade. These have nothing to do with those tourist pieces from Zanzibar shown above.