Sudan Dagger or small sword - Help!
 

I'm new to this and would be grateful for any help in identifying this African? dagger. The sheath is leather and is in a number of different sections. The pale section has finely tooled decoration and there are other patterns on the dark leather. There is an attached leather wrist or arm band. The handle is of dark wood and has applied silver panels screwed in with homemade silver screws. The blade has a slight lozenge shaped profile and is engraved on both sides with decoration. It is 14.5 inches long (including handle). Looks old. Someone suggested to me that it may be north African.

Hi Klipsteen

You have a very nice older Hausa dagger from Nigeria/North Africa. Below are two examples from my collection for comparison.



Lew

Lew,

I had been wondering about the exact ethnicity of this one, but now I am supposing Nigerian Hausa as well....correct??

Charles

Yes that is a real nice Hausa dagger the hilt shape at the top is the key. Sudanese hilts are either disc shaped or hour glass shaped.

Noo-ice!!!

One of those looks really familar.....if you ever resale it...... ;)

Lew

Thanks for the interesting information on the Hausa dagger. Is there any significance to the tooled pattern on the leather? Any idea of age?

John