Another Afar gile

[G. Mansfield]

Yuri,

As others have stated, your gile is hardwood, probably the same type of wood as these Sudanese arm daggers where the wood has a pronounced grain structure. Horn ones are not very common. Here is a gile that is composed of such. It is somewhat older with metal alloy spacers and pommel cap. Apologies for the poor photo quality, these were taken a number of years ago now and I do not have the items on hand at the moment.

-Geoffrey

[Martin Lubojacky]

I would like to correct myself, I got carried away by what I personally call "classic afaraks".

There are, of course, other groups of purely Afar knives, which are also called gile, but they are shorter and often have a T-shaped handle. In these cases, the handle is often made of segments of horn and metal, it can also be only horn, or only aluminum or brass. These knives can be of medium size or even very small.

There is also a group of Afar like knives with bulbous pommel, which I believe belong to afarised Oromos from the north-eastern part of Ethiopia....

Let me apologize a lot for that my important omission. (this could be for longer discussion...)

Herewith I am attaching some (already older) ilustration pictures, also to the previously mentioned texts.

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Martin Lubojacky

I would like to correct myself, I got carried away by what I personally call "classic afaraks".

There are, of course, other groups of purely Afar knives, which are also called gile, but they are shorter and often have a T-shaped handle. In these cases, the handle is often made of segments of horn and metal, it can also be only horn, or only aluminum or brass. These knives can be of medium size or even very small. ...

Very nice Martin collection, congratulations!

Regards, Yuri

[Martin Lubojacky]

Yuri,
these are copies of photographs that are in a museum in Harar, Ethiopia. I'd say they're from, like, 1920s (?).

Best,
Martin

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Martin Lubojacky

Yuri,
these are copies of photographs that are in a museum in Harar, Ethiopia. I'd say they're from, like, 1920s (?).

Best,
Martin

More photos from the Internet

Regards, Yuri

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by G. Mansfield

Yuri,

As others have stated, your gile is hardwood, probably the same type of wood as these Sudanese arm daggers where the wood has a pronounced grain structure. Horn ones are not very common. Here is a gile that is composed of such. It is somewhat older with metal alloy spacers and pommel cap. Apologies for the poor photo quality, these were taken a number of years ago now and I do not have the items on hand at the moment.

-Geoffrey

Thank you Geoffrey for your comment