Konso dagger?
 

I recently picked up this knife. After asking around I've been informed it's made by the Konso tribe of central Ethiopia. Can anyone confirm this?

Hello,
East African for sure but I can't help with the tribe and exact origin. I've handled a few similar ones, they seem to my eyes very recent and it could be that they are worked for selling purposes to tourists but I am unsure about this. But we have members who will be able to tell you more.
Regards,
Detlef

This style of handle is said to have been used in central Ethiopia, around Addis Ababa. Now I have a link to photo of the application on a kitchen knife that is quite old:http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13705 . I'll find some more photos tomorrow (hopefully). They are still being made, not as nice as they used to be. Probably mainly for tourists. I can imagine that they are already being delivered around Ethiopia to various places (for tourists). But I don't think it's Konso in origin. A colleague of mine had it as an old family knife - he was coming from central Ethiopia. He was Oromo, but I don't think it was a purely tribal thing. Rather, regional specific production. There are also Amhara people in that part.

I am attaching a joint photo of 3 daggers from central Ethiopia and Addis kitchen knife, + dagger from the Golan Heights just for comparison of handles.

Much appreciated Martin. I figured my knife was a tourist piece based on the blade cross section, but good to find out more.

I picked up a couple of other blades recently. I'll post photos later.

Thanks!

Here are three from my collection. The older examples were of elephant ivory while the newer ones are made from bone. Many of the silver alloy sheaths and pommel cap ornaments are from older Abyssinian gurade or shotel sword chapes, likely a secondary use after falling in disrepair. As Martin stated, these are tourist peices and can still be found today from my understanding, but in lesser quality and craftsmenship for sure.

-Geoffrey

These are two of my knives. The use of fittings from sword scabbards seems to be a common factor, though I do not know if this practice was meant to make them more desirable for tourist sales. Keeping in mind that there were "tourists" in Ethiopia and Eritrea from the late 1890's to before WWII.

Great photos and information chaps. Thanks.