African Or Tlingit Copper Dagger

Battara · 25th August 2005, 06:41 AM

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in my opinion it is a reproduction. First of all, Mother-of-Pearl was not available to the population until much later at the turn of the century, coming from the area of the Philippines, and that is why abalone shell was used so much. Secondly, from what I have seen of actual researched pieces, the blade seems a little cruder than it should be and the stem should not be beaten like this. Third, I am not sure that the blade work is correct, it should be more hollowed out more, though some blades may not fit this profile perfectly.

I would suggest going to the Antiques Roadshow website and look up those experts that deal in Native American things. I emailed pics of an Apache bag brought back by one of my great-grandfathers and they id' it with pricing. They would be able to tell you for sure if it is genuine or repo and more. If you do, let us know the results. I too dable in NA things (having Cherokee, Filipino, and Scots-Irish blood myself

).

Tim Simmons · 25th August 2005, 09:22 AM

Hello Tomahawk,
I think it super if we were all looking at the real thing, somehow I doubt that but do not take my word as gospel. You could send pictures to one of your great museums. When you bare in mind the prestige nature of copper objects in the pacific NW, I think your knife lacks the quality of the real thing. I know not every knife is made by the highest of artist/craftsman but knives of this type be it iron or copper are generally of excellent execution. I also have some doubts about the carving of the mask. If you send pictures to a museum please let us all know the results. Here are some pictures of the wonderful metal work from the N.W. Tim

25th August 2005, 09:22 AM	#2
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,855	Hello Tomahawk, I think it super if we were all looking at the real thing, somehow I doubt that but do not take my word as gospel. You could send pictures to one of your great museums. When you bare in mind the prestige nature of copper objects in the pacific NW, I think your knife lacks the quality of the real thing. I know not every knife is made by the highest of artist/craftsman but knives of this type be it iron or copper are generally of excellent execution. I also have some doubts about the carving of the mask. If you send pictures to a museum please let us all know the results. Here are some pictures of the wonderful metal work from the N.W. Tim Attached Images

25th August 2005, 06:41 AM	#1
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,280	I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in my opinion it is a reproduction. First of all, Mother-of-Pearl was not available to the population until much later at the turn of the century, coming from the area of the Philippines, and that is why abalone shell was used so much. Secondly, from what I have seen of actual researched pieces, the blade seems a little cruder than it should be and the stem should not be beaten like this. Third, I am not sure that the blade work is correct, it should be more hollowed out more, though some blades may not fit this profile perfectly. I would suggest going to the Antiques Roadshow website and look up those experts that deal in Native American things. I emailed pics of an Apache bag brought back by one of my great-grandfathers and they id' it with pricing. They would be able to tell you for sure if it is genuine or repo and more. If you do, let us know the results. I too dable in NA things (having Cherokee, Filipino, and Scots-Irish blood myself ).