Accidental collector - old weapons ID assistance (Yao?)

Jampot10 · 5th November 2014, 10:14 AM

I posted these a couple of days ago asking for Id help - thanks to everyone that replied. Ariel suggested checking British Museum and a search of the online archive provided the answers.
My view is that these are East African , Malawi / Mozambique / Tanzania area and would even go as far as to say they are Yao tribe origin.
I'm fairly confident of the attribution but for those that have time - please check the Britsh Museum online image archive. Dont think I'm allowed to give a link but :

British Museum home page - Collection online - Knife ivory ( in search box) - tick images only - then search. Scroll through the page and there will be at least 5 or 6 knives very similar to the Ivory one with strong attributions.

Perhaps there needs to be some further discussion about this before confirmation hence the new thread?

For those like me that originally suggested the Asian regions , the Yao tribe built up strong links with slave traders throughout the 19th century eventually converting to Islam around turn of 20th century. This might explain why the knives have influences from both cultures - which caused the difficulties in identification.

The items held by the British museum were mostly gifted in the 1920's and 40's. These were from the estates of persons that were in Africa in a colonial capacity at or around the turn of the century.

Please let me know your thoughts ?

Gavin Nugent · 5th November 2014, 04:16 PM

Well done. To save confusion, please link the threads and or place this information provided in the original thread

Tim Simmons · 5th November 2014, 05:49 PM

Hmmm, Still not convinced. Not that I know better. But look at the top Asian knife in the online collection. Through out the history of this site, time and time again examples of prestigious museum miss-identification have been brought to light.

spiral · 5th November 2014, 06:39 PM

I know what you mean Tim, but personally ill accept it for these... 3 out of 4 are provenanced to separate donors, all of whom only donated items from that region...

Unless someone can provide further evidence?

can someone merge these threads? as they are will just add further confusion to a possibly solved riddle...

spiral

ps.

I guess that's nothing new though...

5th November 2014, 10:14 AM	#1
Jampot10 Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 12	Yao tribal Knives I posted these a couple of days ago asking for Id help - thanks to everyone that replied. Ariel suggested checking British Museum and a search of the online archive provided the answers. My view is that these are East African , Malawi / Mozambique / Tanzania area and would even go as far as to say they are Yao tribe origin. I'm fairly confident of the attribution but for those that have time - please check the Britsh Museum online image archive. Dont think I'm allowed to give a link but : British Museum home page - Collection online - Knife ivory ( in search box) - tick images only - then search. Scroll through the page and there will be at least 5 or 6 knives very similar to the Ivory one with strong attributions. Perhaps there needs to be some further discussion about this before confirmation hence the new thread? For those like me that originally suggested the Asian regions , the Yao tribe built up strong links with slave traders throughout the 19th century eventually converting to Islam around turn of 20th century. This might explain why the knives have influences from both cultures - which caused the difficulties in identification. The items held by the British museum were mostly gifted in the 1920's and 40's. These were from the estates of persons that were in Africa in a colonial capacity at or around the turn of the century. Please let me know your thoughts ? Attached Images

5th November 2014, 06:39 PM	#4
spiral Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,712	I know what you mean Tim, but personally ill accept it for these... 3 out of 4 are provenanced to separate donors, all of whom only donated items from that region... Unless someone can provide further evidence? can someone merge these threads? as they are will just add further confusion to a possibly solved riddle... spiral ps. I guess that's nothing new though... Last edited by spiral; 5th November 2014 at 11:55 PM.

5th November 2014, 04:16 PM	#2
Gavin Nugent Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,818	Well done. To save confusion, please link the threads and or place this information provided in the original thread

5th November 2014, 05:49 PM	#3
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,843	Hmmm, Still not convinced. Not that I know better. But look at the top Asian knife in the online collection. Through out the history of this site, time and time again examples of prestigious museum miss-identification have been brought to light.