African weapons
Does anyone know an expert? I got a dagger here that seems to have something written on it, on my other stuff it's too little to be a language, but here it's all over the blade, it's at least 300 years old and was taken by the Brits in Ivory-coast, know little more about it.
edit, handle is covered with snake leather, and made out of bone
Last edited by Fragony; 12-26-2009 at 15:03.
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Re: African weapons
You'll have to post a picture I suppose.
Re: African weapons
lol if it was taken on the ivory coast 300 years ago it is north african muslim in origin, which i find highly ironic with you frags
Re: African weapons
Why is that, I collect antique weapons and this is one. It's 'black' tribal, get the same markings on a sword that African shaman's use in rituals, looks a lot like mesopetanian writing, but more expressed never seen anything like it.
very poor pic of the sword
ceremonial axe
Re: African weapons
I wouldn't be able to help anyhow but I think you'll need to get some better lighting for your photos. Looks like an octosquid and half a chair's back.
What's the material they're made of? Steel manufacture was primitive at the time and not too widely known in West Africa at the Time. As for the writing perhaps do a paintshop imitation or do a paper mark over.
Last edited by spmetla; 12-29-2009 at 01:41.
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Four stage strategy from Yes, Minister:
Stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
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Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it's too late now.
Re: African weapons
And how the hell have you been doing.Originally Posted by spmetla
Most is bronze, some more recent are steel, all handles are from ivory or bone, some covered with skin. I will post better pics once I have a new camera my old one found out gravity sucks. It's is pretty amazing stuff and I have gotten my hands on quite a lot of it.
^-- one of the steels
It's not that old by the way, think 3 or 4 centuries.
Last edited by Fragony; 12-29-2009 at 06:46.
Re: African weapons
Nice find! Certainly a mean looking blade, when you're able to please post pics of the other weapons. My sword collection is all American/European/Japanese so I'm not familiar at all with African weapons, though I'll see what I can find on the net. Also, how did you get these, were they all from antique shops?
A bit of internet searching brought me what looks like your ceremonial axe:
http://www.forafricanart.com/Ceremon...DRC_p_586.html
another of a similar axe:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lub...78.412.370.htm
Not sure if these will be of help but perhaps your library has them:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156...SIN=1560983175
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B00073CAOE
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/387...SIN=3875531981
http://books.google.com/books?id=LeY...swords&f=false
How are you storing/preserving these?
Last edited by spmetla; 12-29-2009 at 09:25.
"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
-Abraham Lincoln
Four stage strategy from Yes, Minister:
Stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it's too late now.
Re: African weapons
That is (almost) exactly the axe I have thx, in the Met huh
How are you storing/preserving these?
On my shelve, might have to find them a better home
Last edited by Fragony; 12-29-2009 at 09:59.
Re: African weapons
Frags you are such a bad photographer.
The first, silhouetted, pictures do look rather ominous though.
Last edited by Vladimir; 12-30-2009 at 01:09.
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Re: African weapons
Well what do you expect from one who has embraced the dark side?
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Re: African weapons
It helps if the camera is on the side where the light comes from, just saying.
Kinda interested to see this.
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
Re: African weapons
Made these with the webcam. I will have better pictures that show more details later, need to buy a new camera first. But this is the real deal.
Re: African weapons
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2-29at0613.jpg
That weapon (in the picture) looks awesome. How hard is it to get at least a relic of that and what sort of price?
Though, with the changes in knife-law here, I am not sure I can legally own one anymore.
I got a blade when I was like 14 which was this one but that only really looked good when I was that age.
Last edited by Beskar; 12-31-2009 at 00:45.
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Re: African weapons
Somewhere between very hard and impossible. These are rare, it are family pieces, Brits were kind enough to kill this tribe but you won't find too much of it, already on walls somewhere.
You can legally own these by the way, but I wouldn't take it on the streets. If you are really interested I got some relics as well, not interested in those, but it's not going to be cheap. Sword is worth +/- 5k but it isn't for sale.
Last edited by Fragony; 12-31-2009 at 13:35.
Re: African weapons
Not sure how useful these websites are but they seem to imply that your steel sword up there was used as currency for major transactions by the Kuba tribe of Southeast Congo.
http://www.hamillgallery.com/SITE/Weapons.html
http://www.forafricanart.com/Kuba_ep_39-1.html
As for storing, a shelf is fine so long as it isn't too moist or damp. For antiques they look like they're in fairly good condition so whatever you're doing seems to be working.
"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
-Abraham Lincoln
Four stage strategy from Yes, Minister:
Stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it's too late now.
Re: African weapons
These are more recent, 19 century or so mine is much older. Yes ceremonial swords where used for currency, sometimes very BIG swords. Got one of almost 1,5 meter, bronze.
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