A congolese spear tip, but which tribe?
 

Hello guys, I have this spear tip that is congolese, but i don't know the tribe. Could you help me? Length 80 cm, maximum width 7 cm. Thank you :)

nice spear blade
 

Hi Flavio,

This is definitively a spear blade from the Ngbandi tribe in Congo.

Here is a picture from the book 'Iron work from Central Africa' by H. Westerdijk. Unfortunately only available in the Dutch language.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...man/spears.jpg

Your spear blade is similar to the one in the top row, second from the left.

For those interested, these spear blades are attributed to :

A - Ngbandi
B - Ngbandi
C - Ngbandi and Bati
D - Ngbandi, Yakoma,Ngombe, Bati, Ngbaka

All these spear blades were used in the Northwestern part of Congo and were traded over a large area and used by different tribes. These were used for thrusting, but also as a means of showing ones wealth.

Thank you very much Freddy, your help is fundamental as usual :)

The areas of the shaft and butt on the illustration Freddy has posted are fundamental as well, with many, particularly on Ebay, showing up on a plain wooden shaft while being listed as "authentic and complete".
Freddy has been inspirational in helping me to ID spears and spearheads, as well as restoring others.....it's amazing how many "spearheads" that show up are really the other end entirely! :D
Mike

Another spear tip
 

Hello friends, here another spear point (sorry for the bad picture). Mine is the first pic and the second i have found on the web and it's identical to mine. I think Mangbetu, but I don't know it with certainty. Please help me :confused:

According to the book I mentioned above, these barbed spear head come from tribes in the northern part of the area occupied by the Zande tribe in Congo (close to the border with South Sudan). The Mangbetu also have barbed spear heads. But..with Mangbetu spears the spear heads are quite small.

These were used for light throwing spears. The shaft was a simple wooden stick, sometimes with som iron banding at the end (as counter balance).

I'll put some pics of other Ngbandi spears on the forum tomorrow. ;)

As promised
 

Here are some pics of another type of Ngbandi spear head. The length of these is approx. 66 cm. These were used on luxuruous spears. The shafts were like the normal Ngbandi spears with a lot of carving and copper banding.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1175.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1176.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1177.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1178.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1179.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1180.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...elding1181.jpg

Although these spears were more for show, I'm sure they could be used as weapons.

LOL!
The trick would be to bump into someone and NOT injure them, I should think.
The 2nd spearhead that you show, Flavio, looks a lot like several that I've seen on Taureg spears/lances, as far to the north as Eretria.
I'll be very interested in seeing what Freddy arrives at, with his much superior experience and library.
Mike

Hello Mike. I receive today this old engraving (end of 1800) with some aspects of African culture. There are some spear tips on the upper zone and there are called "Bongo spear tips" that are very similar (especiallty the first) to mine. I can see on the book "Lame d'Africa" (M. S. Piccardi - L. Salvatici) that the Bongo are locate in the south Sudan (the actual Sudan) and the north Congo (ex Zaire), very close to tha Zande that is the tribe, as Freddy says, from my second spear tip is product.