Hwi, gubasa, akrafena?

[werecow]

I picked up the top three west African (Dahomey?) ceremonial swords for the price of one Italian pizza at a local restaurant each. They are not sharpened and could be tourist pieces, but they look an awful lot like the 1930s ceremonial Hwi and Gubasa swords from the Ghana/Togo/Benin area featured elsewhere on this forum (and on at least one well known antique arms vendor's site who shall not be named I spotted an extremely similar sword for sale for about 66x what I paid for these ).
Also shown (bottom) is an (Ashanti?) akrafena sword that I've had since last year.
Your comments would be welcome.
Will add detailed pics of each sword in separate replies.

EDIT: Related thread(s):

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23002

[Tim Simmons]

I think you know you have done well. Super bargain. Very nice .

[werecow]

Thanks!

The first of the Hwi. 68.5cm long, 55cm blade, 4mm thick at the base. Crocodile motif on both sides of the blade. Animal head pommel. An odd feature is the upturned shell shaped quillon, which gets in the way of the hand unless the sword is held with the wrist extended (perhaps not an issue when holding it up high?).

[werecow]

The second of the Hwi. 62cm total length with 48cm blade. 5mm at the base quickly tapering to 4mm. Hunter defeated by lion motif on both sides of the blade, with a rifle lying beside on one side. Typical curled quillon. More substantial guard on this one. Unlike the first one this one has a peen block.

Both Hwi have similar longitudinal streaks along the blade and similar smaller machine(?) tool marks across.

[werecow]

The Gubasa. 49cm with a 36cm blade, 5mm blade. More oval section whereas the Hwi have a wedge section blade. Round grip and domed round pommel, with top of grip a bit more oval, whereas the Hwi have a more oval shaped grip overall. Similar peen block to the second Hwi, and similar patina (more visible on the back). Multiple piercings in/through the blade. Unlike the Hwi, only one side of the blade is decorated. Significantly shorter than its close cousin, the Akrafena (see upcoming next post in this thread).

These first three were sold to me by a lady on marktplaats (NL) who said they were in turn purchased a long time ago on a market in France from a world traveler (she had listed them as Asian). Unfortunately that's all the information I have.

[werecow]

Finally, the Akrafena. 71 cm long, 50.5cm blade, 4mm wide at the base. Heavy patina. Typical bulbous grip. No signs of gold covering. Unlike with the Gubasa, no peen is visible. Some pierced decorations, but with different motifs from the Gubasa, and unlike with the Gubasa, the small circular indentations along the edge do not pierce the blade.

[werecow]

Last couple of pictures of the back side of the Akrafena, because I'm a completionist.
Sorry about the picture quality on some of these. My camera is terrible.