African spears and mace

erlikhan · 12th January 2005, 08:42 PM

I found several nice two headed short spears and a tough wooden mace told as original antique weapons in a dealer. Is there anybody having strong information about black african weapons and can decide if they are antique or not , and their value, from pictures? Should I go and take their pictures?

capt.smash · 12th January 2005, 08:45 PM

yeah post some pics so we can have a look

erlikhan · 14th January 2005, 08:21 PM

http://www.pbase.com/erlik21/inbox
in this link there are pictures of several spears(1-1,5 mts), one wooden club and one axe. the sewed metal threads are brass or silver. heavily patinated and needs to be cleaned to understand the material. Do you think these are real antique and, which country are they from?
regards

Freddy · 14th January 2005, 10:34 PM

Hi,

My guess is that these pieces are South African, perhaps Zulu. But I'm not sure of this. There are a lot of tribes (Swazi, Ngoni,etc...) which were influenced by the Zulus. Their weaponry (and tactics) were copied by a lot of people.

The club could be Gogo, from Tanzania. I have a similar one, real heavy. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

The pieces look good to me. I wouldn't clean them too much otherwise you could lose the patina of the blades. When I need to clean, for example a spear from Congo, I gently remove the rust with a copper brush. Afterwards I oil the blade to protect it. Most of the time, the original blackening which is so often seen on African blades returns. That's the way these weapons should look.

tom hyle · 14th January 2005, 10:43 PM

Zulu, etc. spears, the butt spikes and full-wrapped handles are unuwual. Look "real" and old to me. I know unuwual ain't a word; the key for the letter before "t" in the alphabet got a little object under it though, and won't work right.....

erlikhan · 15th January 2005, 09:02 PM

Thank you pals. And,how much would be good, reasonable price for me to pay for them according to market averages? If to mention prices is not appropriate in forum, can you pls send me private msg to give an idea as i have none?

12th January 2005, 08:42 PM	#1
erlikhan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 452	African spears and mace I found several nice two headed short spears and a tough wooden mace told as original antique weapons in a dealer. Is there anybody having strong information about black african weapons and can decide if they are antique or not , and their value, from pictures? Should I go and take their pictures?

14th January 2005, 10:34 PM	#4
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	South African ? Hi, My guess is that these pieces are South African, perhaps Zulu. But I'm not sure of this. There are a lot of tribes (Swazi, Ngoni,etc...) which were influenced by the Zulus. Their weaponry (and tactics) were copied by a lot of people. The club could be Gogo, from Tanzania. I have a similar one, real heavy. I'll post a pic tomorrow. The pieces look good to me. I wouldn't clean them too much otherwise you could lose the patina of the blades. When I need to clean, for example a spear from Congo, I gently remove the rust with a copper brush. Afterwards I oil the blade to protect it. Most of the time, the original blackening which is so often seen on African blades returns. That's the way these weapons should look.

15th January 2005, 09:02 PM	#6
erlikhan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 452	Thank you pals. And,how much would be good, reasonable price for me to pay for them according to market averages? If to mention prices is not appropriate in forum, can you pls send me private msg to give an idea as i have none? Last edited by erlikhan; 16th January 2005 at 03:01 PM.

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12th January 2005, 08:45 PM	#2
capt.smash Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Devon ,England Posts: 80	yeah post some pics so we can have a look

14th January 2005, 08:21 PM	#3
erlikhan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 452	http://www.pbase.com/erlik21/inbox in this link there are pictures of several spears(1-1,5 mts), one wooden club and one axe. the sewed metal threads are brass or silver. heavily patinated and needs to be cleaned to understand the material. Do you think these are real antique and, which country are they from? regards

14th January 2005, 10:43 PM	#5
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	Zulu, etc. spears, the butt spikes and full-wrapped handles are unuwual. Look "real" and old to me. I know unuwual ain't a word; the key for the letter before "t" in the alphabet got a little object under it though, and won't work right.....