![]() |
|
![]() |
#1 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Aussie Bush
Posts: 4,138
|
![]()
This knife was brought back to England in the late 1880s and has been in the family since that time. I don't know the name of the man or the family. The knife is heavily patinated but appears to have survived well. Given the timing of the individual's return to England, shortly after the period of the Anglo-Zulu Wars, the knife is probably from that general era. Whether it came from the conflict is lost to time.
It is uncommon in my experience to find old African knives with a reasonably well defined date. OAL = 42 cm (~16.5 in.) . Last edited by Ian; 1st March 2024 at 06:52 AM. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
Posts: 8,711
|
![]()
Hi Ian,
It's not Zulu but from the Congo, I would need to search for it but the blade shape and the bullen nails are the give-away! Regards, Detlef |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#3 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Belgium
Posts: 144
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Aussie Bush
Posts: 4,138
|
![]()
Thanks guys. I appreciate the correction. The Congo is an odd place for an Englishman to be in the late 19th C. Like so many "family stories," they are often erroneous. The age, however, seems reliable.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
Posts: 8,711
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#6 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Posts: 81
|
![]()
Probably ended up in Sudan at some point in its journey. Englishmen were more than common there. Also, it could have been picked up or traded by Christian missionaries in the Congo like many weapons or objects during that time period. I believe many Europeans dispatched from Kartoum in Sudan in the coming and going from the Northern Congo Region for ease of travel routes and access to resources.
-Geoffrey |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|