A number of Ethnographic edged weapons

[katana]

Hi....I'm Katana....a new member....several formites asked if I could post pictures of some of my collection......so here they are...hope they are of interest :) Some of these are quite old, the cutlass with the animal fur/leather scabbard is quite likely 18c, the blade is a reused French one. The triple dagger set is late 19c, at the time of the Madhist revolt....General Gordon of Khartoum era. The sheath is genuine crocodile...shame its slightly damaged.
If anyone has any questions or comments.....please jump in :)


Morrocan dagger, horn and bone handle, arabic engraving to blade which roughly translates to
( With? ) Weapons ( They?) drive away ( the?) enemy ,The blade is 'flyssa' shaped, tempered steel with parallel ground fullers, overall length is 37.5 cms, blade is 26.5 cms.

http://postthatpic.com/files/73/shield/100%20d.jpg


Blade to bolster is 17.5cm (7'')
Blade width (at bolster) is 3cms (1 3/8 '')
overall length is approx. 29cm ( 11 1/2 '')

Blade is 4.5mm thick (spine just after bolster) and has distal taper, balance point is at mid point of the bolster. Looks as if the silver banding (on the scabbard) may have had some Arabic type script which is all but polished out . This knife is a mystery, made from a file ...it has N.African, Arabic and Asian influences.
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/shield/54_1_sbl.jpg

A French Cutlass 18c which has been Africanised, and has probably been re-hilted several times in its life, probably last owned in the Ivory Coast, East Africa.
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/shield/1b_12_sb.jpg

Triple dagger set, from the Sudan, blades are acid etched (faded) with Arabic script, bone handles.
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0431.jpg
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0430.jpg

Sudanese/North Africa arm dagger, the loop is placed on the arm, usually with the blade pointing downward for ease of 'drawing', scabbard has either snake or reptile skin. Horn handle
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0445.jpg

Moroccan Koummya, Blade 20cms and 4mm thick, overall length 37cms, has had a lot of use....worn through sharpening.....probably 19c ...or even earlier....a nice heavy knife

http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0452.jpg
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0448.jpg

A Tulwar, Indian quite likely Moghul 18c, this sword has 'seen' some action....and has a number of very old scars to prove it, blade is well made, light, and strong ...

http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0528.jpg
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0468.jpg

These two daggers are probably from West Africa, the first dagger has an unusual 'needle point', almost as if was for 'armour piecing' but metal armour was extremely...extremely rare......which makes this a bit of a puzzle.
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0230.JPG

This dagger has Toureg (Nomadic warrior tribesman from the Sahara Region) influences, the hilt is very distinctive and is cast bronze, which was later engraved. Iron/steel is considered almost un-clean (to the toureg)so to avoid making contact all their hilts are either completely 'leathered covered' or of non ferrous metal
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/100_0475.jpg

This is a Bamum King's ceremonial sword, the carved hilt is very symbolic to the Bamum tribe, the blade.....yes that is a blade..not a scabbard;) has heavy patination and is very dark...one of my (many) favourites

http://postthatpic.com/files/73/Bamum%20Kings%20Knife%203.jpg
http://postthatpic.com/files/73/sna4.jpg

A 'Wedding Nimcha', ceremonial dagger from Algiers, usually with poor, thin blades of 2-3mm thick....this one is 4mm with distal taper, sharp edge. Although these tend to be ceremonial...this one has IMHO a functional blade.

http://postthatpic.com/files/73/gsa.jpg

[Tiffers]

I'm not sure that the bottom 3 links are right but there are some interesting pictures in the top series! What are they all? My knowledge of those sorts of knives is very limited!

Tiffers

[PaulV]

Wow those are really quite nice! From your personal collection?? Never mind, need to read all of posts :(

[PaulV]

I'm not sure that the bottom 3 links are right but there are some interesting pictures in the top series! What are they all? My knowledge of those sorts of knives is very limited!

Tiffers

Seems he used html coding <a href> instead of VBULL coding [url].

If you copy and paste the URL addy in the <a href> it will get you to the pix

[Bogflogger]

That is some collection! :D

Any chance you could give some details of where each is from? :)

[katana]

Thankyou all for your comments.....yes they are all mine...I know I should have put descriptions.....but I wasn't certain if there would be much interest and I thought I would wait to see if I needed to......LAZY..I guess;)
So I'll post details very soon....got to match each link to a description..shouldn't take too long.

I've sorted out the link problem...

To make things easier and less confusing I re-edit the first post with some info.

[dtalbot]

Fantastic collection there!

[malaki]

Hi Katana
welcome to the forum and what a magnificent collection!
Yes please to more info!
i found a couple of these realy inspiring and feel shaw they will influence my future work

[katana]

NEW AND IMPROVED >>>>Please go back to the thread start ...I have included more info........and another two examples..

My apologies for making this thread confusing and making it a bit of a brain twister......but like they say........ use it ....or lose it..... your mind that is;)


David

[Tiffers]

They are absolutely fascinating David, thanks for doing the info update!

Tiffers

[Bogflogger]

Thanks David, that really adds some context to the photos.

Fascinating stuff, especially the 'recycled' blades.

[Tigger]

A big Bouncey welcome from me Katana.
A very cool collection you have there,I always loved the diversity of the blade as you move from culture to culture.I personally onlly collect blades of a practicle usable, nature but that doesn't stop me appreciating your collection and knowledge.
Thanks for sharing. Tigger:D

[katana]

Hi Katana
welcome to the forum and what a magnificent collection!
Yes please to more info!
i found a couple of these realy inspiring and feel shaw they will influence my future work

Hi Malaki,
I'm very curious as to which knives you mean, please let me know...perhaps I could send you better pictures & info and details of some other similar examples....:)

Hi Tigger....your welcome and thanks for your comments

[Underhay]

Thanks for posting that David, and welcome to the forum :biggthump

I'm really interested in ethnographic knives, but it's not easy to find pictures with details of blade lenghth etc. I've just bought a couple of books from Amazon which show some blades.

Just out of interest where on earth did you find these swords and knives.

I'm more into making than collecting and I've already made a Kukri, and I'm currently thinking of trying a pattern welded Jambiya or Khanjar. Should be an intesting challenge :)

Duncan

[malaki]

[QUOTE=katana;376873]Hi Malaki,
I'm very curious as to which knives you mean, please let me know...perhaps I could send you better pictures & info and details of some other similar examples....:)

Hi David could you tell me what the hilt of the Tulwar is made from? as it looks like cast metal (of particular intrest to me as a fine art bronze founder)

I find the sudanese arm dagger scabbard particuly intresting

But the piece that iam realy taken with is the Morrocan Dagger from a purely artistc point of veiw i find it to be just perfect from the overal form to the balance between the blade and handle and the combination of materails with the different colour and textures and the crowning feuture for me is the arbiic script on the blade.
its one of the most beutiful and exciting nives ive ever seen

I realy like this knife:)

i would be very greatfull if you could send me more images of it you can find my email adress in my profile

[Danzo]

Thanks for posting the pics; it's always interesting to see knives and swords from around the world and different periods in history. In addition I think it gives us a perspective on how and why knives today look as they do.

Danzo