Thanks Colin,
for confirming Lew's opinion. It is disappointing that there is little 'dedicated' literature on African knobkerries/clubs/ throwing sticks. Nearly every 'knobkerrie' sold on eBay is stated as Zulu.....other than the Runga's which are obviously 'different'.
A few years ago I tried to discover which regions used which specie of wood for spear shafts.....and was completely unsucessful. I had hoped that ID'ing the spear shaft species could help give a more positive ID to a spear.
It seems that the same holds for clubs ...very little is documented as to the wood used.
Will 'aim my sights' eastwards and try and find similar clubs. I do think this is genuinely old and it would be great to ID it.
Just to illustrate the point about the diversity style and degree of workmanship of S.A knobkerries ...
Below is a knobkerrie collected from Natal Province, Nqutu District
Best
David
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