I especially like these lances. I thought I had photographed a number of variations and placed those images on the forum, but now, a focused Google search having failed to show them, I suspect that it was for a Timonium presentation. I will have to see if I can locate those files and include them here.
Back during the window of relatively safe travel in the region, I brought back examples in my baggage from each trip. The first trip was to Mali, and genuine examples were scarce with a 'suitcase friendly' degenerate version abundant in the market for tourists. In Niger, there were still plenty of genuine antique and working examples in the market.
I had an inquiry from a member that search functions had failed for him in this morning's e-mail. There were no changes here, but I do recommend Google as a great way to search the forums (syntax example: tuareg spear site:
www.vikingsword.com). This prompted the following trip down memory lane:
Mali 1999
Niger 2000