Can anyone ID this axe? Weapon? Tool? Origin? Age?

M ELEY · 28th July 2023, 05:38 AM

Very nice ax. No expert on these types, but yours is of the 'pole type' seen in Eastern and Western Europe in the early/mid-19th century. It is a tool ax despite the decoration, which many of these Euro axes did have (I think the manufacturers had a respect for their axes and these etchings were attractive to woodsmen. Yours appears cast, so perhaps 1850's-80's.

Unfortunately, the Tomahawk collectors site is down right now, but hopefully later you can pull it up and under the section 'Other Foreign Axes', you can see examples similar to yours-

www.tatcalite.com/id2.htm

Here is an example of an etched ax head on a Hungarian fokos ax. I'm NOT implying yours is a fokos, simply showing that these types often did have some great decoration to them despite their meager purposes-

https://therionarms.com/sold/ttoy417.html

28th July 2023, 05:38 AM	#4
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,141	Very nice ax. No expert on these types, but yours is of the 'pole type' seen in Eastern and Western Europe in the early/mid-19th century. It is a tool ax despite the decoration, which many of these Euro axes did have (I think the manufacturers had a respect for their axes and these etchings were attractive to woodsmen. Yours appears cast, so perhaps 1850's-80's. Unfortunately, the Tomahawk collectors site is down right now, but hopefully later you can pull it up and under the section 'Other Foreign Axes', you can see examples similar to yours- www.tatcalite.com/id2.htm Here is an example of an etched ax head on a Hungarian fokos ax. I'm NOT implying yours is a fokos, simply showing that these types often did have some great decoration to them despite their meager purposes- https://therionarms.com/sold/ttoy417.html Last edited by M ELEY; 28th July 2023 at 05:51 AM. Reason: added material