Moroccan axe?

[kronckew]

North West african axe: Info from vendor
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Country: Morocco
Weapon Type: Axe
Year of Manufacture: 1900
Overall Length: 34.5 cm
Barrel/ blade length: 27.3 cm

A beautiful tomahawk
hand-carved by an artist in Morocco in the 20's
the handle is made of quality hornbeam wood,
the blade is made of carbon steel with an
engraving of a tree with leaves
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Coming my way from Israel. I am awaiting being gouged by customs.

Thought it looked cool. not sure if the head is on the right way
Have seen them both ways....

Couldn't find any ref. by searching the forum (or google).

[fernando]

I view it better; in the inverted position ; dated 1899 ... and hardly from Morocco .


.

[kronckew]

As I suspected, the bit of the haft near the socket looks like it had been slid off and repositioned. It coming from Israel made me suspicious of the Maroc connection too.

The question now is where was it from?

I suspect the bird is NOT one of Odin's Ravens, and the blade foliage decor is NOT Yggdrasil . Hornbeam, if it is hornbeam, is native to northern Europe and eastern Asia, not north africa, tho there was trade all over. Another one I found online was attributed to Algeria. It had the head on correctly and had a horrible multicolour horizontal stripe painted and lathe turned haft.

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by fernando

... and hardly from Morocco .

.

Probably because it's Afghan or Balutch

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Probably because it's Afghan or Balutch ...

Sorry my nonsense but, wouldn't those be more in the pierced blade style ... and no birds (animals) representation, as per Muslim customs ?

[motan]

Hi,
No idea, but just wanted to remark that decoration looks like tree of life, which is definitely an Islamic symbol, found on weapons, carpets and many other things.
Eytan

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by motan

Hi,
No idea, but just wanted to remark that decoration looks like tree of life, which is definitely an Islamic symbol, found on weapons, carpets and many other things.
Eytan

The tree of life is also a north European/scandanavian religious symbol It's name is Yggdrasil. The axe is of course NOT Viking.... or is it?

Nice to see some variation in input....

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by fernando

Sorry my nonsense but, wouldn't those be more in the pierced blade style ... and no birds (animals) representation, as per Muslim customs ?

Don't worry, Muslim weapons are full of birds, especially Indian ones, there are forbidden in mosques no more..

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Don't worry, Muslim weapons are full of birds, especially Indian ones, there are forbidden in mosques no more..

Indeed, the depiction of worshipped Idols is forbidden, the extension to ANY depiction of sentient beings is a minority. Even the Taliban, who destroy non-islamic historical art are not above depicting themselves in art, photography and in videos. They even may have Photographs of their Idolised Leaders, which is surely forbidden and deserves the severest penalty for them and those who idolise them.