Interesting African short sword

Iain · 16th January 2012, 01:03 PM

Thanks Gav and Richmond.

It's an interesting piece for sure. The diversity of forms in this region really fascinates me, but despite dissimilar overall appearances little elements like the pommel and style of the leather ties show a certain interconnected nature with other ethnic groups. I find collecting this sort of thing a nice change from the fairly uniform nature of takouba.

The use of two reptile leathers I also quite like. The monitor is of course common in this region and the Nile crocodile has a range all throughout the south and eastern border of Nigeria and in Cameroon as well.

Yvain · 25th November 2020, 12:27 PM

For the archives, I think I found something similar to this sword (while searching for a different type of Mandara short sword...), though we would need to require unsheathed pictures from the museum to be sure.

Anyway, very similar scabbard, grip, and pommel, same origin (Cameroon), though it seems like it was collected way more South than the Mandara mountains (but blades do travel, I noticed something similar while studying Dìì swords).

http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlu...ype=detailView

25th November 2020, 12:27 PM	#2
Yvain Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: France Posts: 179	For the archives, I think I found something similar to this sword (while searching for a different type of Mandara short sword...), though we would need to require unsheathed pictures from the museum to be sure. Anyway, very similar scabbard, grip, and pommel, same origin (Cameroon), though it seems like it was collected way more South than the Mandara mountains (but blades do travel, I noticed something similar while studying Dìì swords). http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlu...ype=detailView Attached Images

16th January 2012, 01:03 PM	#1
Iain Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Olomouc Posts: 1,708	Thanks Gav and Richmond. It's an interesting piece for sure. The diversity of forms in this region really fascinates me, but despite dissimilar overall appearances little elements like the pommel and style of the leather ties show a certain interconnected nature with other ethnic groups. I find collecting this sort of thing a nice change from the fairly uniform nature of takouba. The use of two reptile leathers I also quite like. The monitor is of course common in this region and the Nile crocodile has a range all throughout the south and eastern border of Nigeria and in Cameroon as well.