Small axes for ID

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Gene,
Illustration from the Chatterbox magazine March 30th 1872 of Roumanian smugglers complete with axe, obviously I can't be sure of the historical accuracy of the illustration.
Regards,
Norman.

[Emanuel]

Hi Gene,

Nice axes!! As a Romanian I'll chime in. I think Tim might be right. I have seen this type of axes in Romania. Sheep herders, woodsmen, etc... I remember one instance we met with a ranger in the forest and he was lamenting not being allowed to carry a rifle, so he had two of these smaller axes at his side and a knife (and lots of dogs ) to fend off wolves and bears as well as he could. I don't remember these dot markings though. I will visit Romania later this summer and will make a point of checking.

The similarity to Indian/Persian blades is understandable. The Romanian word for axe "topor" comes from the Indian "tabar" via the Ottomans.

Cheers,
Emanuel

[Emanuel]

Here are some miscellaneous Romanian axes demonstrating simple punched decoration.

E

[Jim McDougall]

Emanuel and Norman, beautifully done on the support for Romanian axes!!!!
Its really great to see suggestions followed through in this way, and show that Tim's well placed and already well supported note via his showing the tulip decoration seem entirely correct. I think the most fun here is when discussions are developed with such supporting material and we all get to learn more together.
Thank you so much guys!!!

All the best,
Jim

[Atlantia]

Tim, Norman and Emanuel
Excellent teamwork there
You've certainly made an argument for a possible eastern European origin.

I still can't help but feel that whatever they are, they are a specific type in their own right, so we should be able to find clear pictures of another example to compare them with.
They are so distinctive.

I'm still on the fence about them.
I can see merit for all of the theories proposed so far, but I think that until we find another identified example to nail them down we won't have a consensus.

I've expanded this request to other collecting forums and similarly, if anyone reading this knows for sure or can show/link to another of these for reference, then please email me at: gimmieitbaby@aol.com

Best
Gene

[Atlantia]

Would it be worth asking on the Euro side of the forums if these may be from Eastern Europe?

[Atlantia]

Tim, Emanuel and Norman.

Continuing the quest, I've tried to make or disprove the case for these being Eastern European.......

I've looked for further information on 'Shepherd axes' of Eastern Europe.
'Fokos' in Hungary, other names are: 'valaška', 'ciupaga' etc.

Wiki page "Shepherd's Axe".

The usual form is almost like a long handled Tomahawk, often with a slightly downcurving asymetric blade. This is to allow them to be gripped on the head and used like a walking stick.
After some extensive trawling, I have found a couple of pictures of crescent shaped 'shepherds' axes'. But they usually still allow for a semi-comfortable hand grip on the blade for the above purpose.
Mine feel horrible if gripped in that way, the smaller one especially, combined with the extreme curve of the cutting edge and small size mean that even trying to find a 'comfortable handhold' to test my theory meant that I painfully scraped my hand quite a few times.


Looking through the Wiki page, it makes this point about the shape of these axes, and makes some interesting comments about their decoration (a point already of course made by Tim):

"A shepherd's axe is a light axe with a long and straight wooden shaft, often with a metal butt. The length of the shaft is usually slightly more than 1 metre. The shafts were usually engraved as their owners had plenty of time for crafting.

A small metal head-piece is sharp on one side while the other side is flat and can be used as a hammer. The head-piece is formed to fit comfortably into the hand so the shepherd's axe could be used as a walking stick.

Today's shepherd's axes are mostly decorative, some having golden or silver head-pieces (mostly it`s brass, iron, chromed iron, wood or aluminum - to be true I have never heard of any axe head made of gold or silver). Many are considered works of art (esp. those made up to the 60s by highlanders). They were skillfully stamped/adorned according to ancient tradition. The main motives were the sun, stars (whirl), comets, tree of life, flowers, trees such as fir or spruce, and various geometric designs. Some smiths used many different, elaborated stamps."


One other thing that seems to work against them being this type of axe, is the shape of the shaft hole.
All of the specifically identified 'shepherds axes' and 'walking axes' that I can find have non-circular holes. In fact most have squared off holes for obvious reasons.

However!
The wiki article also mentions that:
"In Hungary, modified axes were also used as martial weapons by Hungarian warriors in the medieval age, used for example in the 18th century in Rákóczi's War for Independence against Austrian soldiers. In the 17th and 18th century, Hungarian Kuruc leader Imre Thököly and his soldiers used shepherd's axes as weapons. Hungarian shepherds in the northern regions used it also as a tool."

I could easily see these as 18thC, could they be one of these 'modified' (weaponised?) forms mentioned above?

Sadly, the best 'paintings' of these Hungarian warriors (Imre Thököly etc) seem to show them with rather fine war-hammers. So not really much help.However, here is a diagram of one of these soldiers with a 'Fokos'
Sorry for the size, but I think that you can see the general shape and size seems to be superficially similar:

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi Gene,
Illustration from the Chatterbox magazine March 30th 1872 of Roumanian smugglers complete with axe, obviously I can't be sure of the historical accuracy of the illustration.
Regards,
Norman.

Did you read the transcript of the accompanying passage to that picture Norman?

"CHATTER BOX
Published for the Proprietors by W. WELLS GARDNER, 10 Paternoster Row, London. Printed by John Strangeways,] [Castle Street, Leicester Square

No. 18. March 30, 1872. Weekly—One Halfpenny.

ROUMANIAN SMUGGLERS.

ROUMANIA, otherwise called Wallachia and Moldavia, a country watered by the Danube, and not far from the Black Sea, is inhabited by a wild and lawless set of people, who have proved themselves very difficult to rule, and who are constantly changing their government.

Smuggling in this land is by no means confined to the lower classes. Even the nobles are engaged in it. They smuggle goods chiefly to and from Austria, through the wild passes of the Carpathian Mountains. The horses they employ in this trade are small, wiry, and strong; as to the appearance of the men themselves, it is certainly picturesque, their costume being a mixture of that of several nations. The hat is Hungarian, generally gaily decorated; on their shoulder is an embroidered leather strap, which indicates that its owner has once served as a soldier in the Austrian armv; the linen shirt has a Wallachian cut. and the girdle round the waist, which is richly embroidered, betrays the same nationality. The foot-gear of the men in our illustration is not Wallachian, for they always wear sandals, and our cavalier with the hatchet in his hand wears high bpots. It is a strange article which these men are going to smuggle over into Austria, and which they carry in stone pitchers—it is leeches, which are abundant in Roumania, and upon which there is a heavy export duty. It is through one of the narrow, steep passes of the Carpathian .Mountains that these smugglers are passing, wishing of course to avoid the Custom-houses. They carry other things as well as leeches, probably a good stock of tobacco; and if they succeed m keeping their booty safe they will make a large profit. Seven villages in a lonely valley among the Carpathian Mountains are famous as the abode of smugglers, and to these places the government often send an armed band of Custom-house officers, who search every house, and generally carry off rich spoil, in spite of the clever way in which the smugglers hide their contraband goods."



Interestingly the site I found this transcript on also mentions a Description of the “mountaineers” in the Carpathians from 1844.


“The mountaineers here are called Huzzulen as in Bukovina. We found two of them sitting by the fire at the inn, leaning upon their hatchets. They told us that they were never without their hatchets, that they travelled with them, danced with them, and wore them as a part of their Sunday finery. They went to church with their hatchets, but did not take them into the church. They hung them upon wooden posts outside, from which each on coming out took down his own again.”