Congo sword ID help

Mefidk · 5th May 2021, 03:55 PM

OK Colin, will do, thanks for the interest. It may take a little time since I need to take photos of a few, but I can start with a new thread on one or two. Most are Congo, but I have a few from elsewhere in Africa. But as I said only just starting out with this area so I only have 20 at the moment. None are stellar examples, rather I wanted first to get a feel for the range and quality before investing in high-end items.
Almost all the Congo axes are sold as Songye axes, but I have doubts about this - there would have to be a lot of important Songye with their ceremonial axes, and the range of form is quite large. I've seen some differentiation suggested east/west and there are the Nsapo types, but I suspect there is much more to this than I see in the texts mentioned above. I hope some answers might be found in the axe book

5th May 2021, 03:55 PM	#14
Mefidk Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Denmark Posts: 157	OK Colin, will do, thanks for the interest. It may take a little time since I need to take photos of a few, but I can start with a new thread on one or two. Most are Congo, but I have a few from elsewhere in Africa. But as I said only just starting out with this area so I only have 20 at the moment. None are stellar examples, rather I wanted first to get a feel for the range and quality before investing in high-end items. Almost all the Congo axes are sold as Songye axes, but I have doubts about this - there would have to be a lot of important Songye with their ceremonial axes, and the range of form is quite large. I've seen some differentiation suggested east/west and there are the Nsapo types, but I suspect there is much more to this than I see in the texts mentioned above. I hope some answers might be found in the axe book