Zulu Patina question? Looks very recent.

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Ian

Bill:

That stick has been turned on a lathe (probably a lathe was used for the checkering too). Did Zulus have lathes to turn wood in such precise ways?

Ian.

Ian,

You're not in England are you?

I can see marks between the handle and the checkering that looks as though it was turned on a lathe.

This is a mystery to me. On one hand everything points to this being made yesterday with modern tools. However the seller seems really solid and it would be even stranger for a faker to make something so obviously new-looking. A good faker would have wonderful wear patina.

Do like the African traders and give the piece to a kid with some steel wool and a can of Johnson's paste Wax. It would look a hundred years old in a few days.