Ankus
 

For some reason - perhaps I just think they are cute - I've been picking up the occasional ankus here and there. Some are modern, but still cute IMO.

Very nice collection you have going there Timo! Thanks for sharing! I would love to pick up one someday too, but a Thai one :)

Here are three more! The first two escaped my last photography session (I must get a better camera!); the 3rd is new.

The first one was my favourite. It might be replaced by the new one (the 3rd one). The 3rd one is supposedly a WW2 CBI bringback.

The middle one is, of course, modern. I haven't seen any old ankus with an axe blade like this (have you?).

A VERY NICE COLLECTION!! THANKS FOR SHOWING IT. HERE ARE PICTURES OF TWO ANKUS, THE FANCY ONE 3 PICTURES IS SAID TO BE EARLY 20TH CENTURY. THE SHORT ONE ?? THESE AR NOT MINE BUT I HAVE A FEW AROUND. I WILL TRY AND TAKE SOME PICTURES TO POST.

A bells-in-handle ankus is on my list to get. Also a long-hafted one. Eventually, and as budget permits.

I like the simple ones. I think learning to make one would be a nice introduction to blacksmithing.

a sympathetic ankus
 

a sympatic ankus

Here's the second on that list, a long-handled ankus. Lightweight at 474g.

Also, just received, a small ankus. 504g. Shown next to the ringed ankus in the last batch for comparison. (The ringed one is a little above average for this kind, I think. 908g.)

Is it terrible that I would use any one of those as fire place pokers?

Timo,
Now you absolutely need a herd of elephants.

SAFER TO POKE A FIRE PLACE THAN TO POKE AN ELEPHANT. :p

Have found a nearly similar one like Timo. Same style, possibly same smith.

Best Thomas

Here is my only Ancus, north India probably Punjab 19th century. The bore is 11 mm pinfire, so if someone was hit there would have been quite a hole.
In one of his books Robert Elgood shows a walking stick, with a hidden gun, from a museum, also with the same kind of decoration.
These shooting weapons were not practical at all, as it took far too long to unscrew the top - would not have been any good for a 007-agent.
Elgood, Robert: Firearms of the Islamic World. I.B. Tauris & Co., London 1995. PP. 142-143 no 93.



No Ariel, I am not going to buy an elephant, as I only have one Ancus, and I am sure my wife and the dogs would not like an elephant running around in the garden trumpteting at all hours.


Sorry.

Uh..........a picture Jens, please?