Big Ethiopian daggers

Martin Lubojacky · 17th April 2017, 01:38 PM

They are neither "Afar´s jellys", nor "Somali´s Bilaos". Comming from the south of Ethiopia (territories on both sides of the road going to Kenya). Not too much known. Below are two exmples - 58 and 62 cms. The bigger one is, I would guess, Mursi tribe.

colin henshaw · 24th April 2017, 12:44 PM

Interesting large daggers. I have seen a few for sale here in London, usually just described as from Ethiopia and not particularly old. Did you collect these examples yourself ? Do you know of any references, literature etc ?

Martin Lubojacky · 1st May 2017, 09:34 PM

I collected them myself in Addis cca 20 years ago. I would say they are cca from 70ties. They were "tribaly used", with very thick fat patina on the scabbards, rusty blades. One scabbbard totally shrinked (not possible to use).
On my trips I saw similar in Bale region (the handle same like in the case of the smaller one) and also in surroundings of Omo (bigger one). There was also another similar big dagger type attributed to Danakil (but definitely not jelly type) by wendors in Addis... I don´t have any literature re this type of daggers,

Sajen · 2nd May 2017, 04:39 PM

Very interesting, thank you for sharing the pictures and also your observations!

17th April 2017, 01:38 PM	#1
Martin Lubojacky Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 836	Big Ethiopian daggers They are neither "Afar´s jellys", nor "Somali´s Bilaos". Comming from the south of Ethiopia (territories on both sides of the road going to Kenya). Not too much known. Below are two exmples - 58 and 62 cms. The bigger one is, I would guess, Mursi tribe. Attached Images

24th April 2017, 12:44 PM	#2
colin henshaw Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,430	Interesting large daggers. I have seen a few for sale here in London, usually just described as from Ethiopia and not particularly old. Did you collect these examples yourself ? Do you know of any references, literature etc ?

1st May 2017, 09:34 PM	#3
Martin Lubojacky Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 836	I collected them myself in Addis cca 20 years ago. I would say they are cca from 70ties. They were "tribaly used", with very thick fat patina on the scabbards, rusty blades. One scabbbard totally shrinked (not possible to use). On my trips I saw similar in Bale region (the handle same like in the case of the smaller one) and also in surroundings of Omo (bigger one). There was also another similar big dagger type attributed to Danakil (but definitely not jelly type) by wendors in Addis... I don´t have any literature re this type of daggers,

2nd May 2017, 04:39 PM	#4
Sajen Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Germany, Dortmund Posts: 8,468	Very interesting, thank you for sharing the pictures and also your observations!