Knobkerries x2 , ID and comments welcome.

Lew · 16th January 2010, 09:02 PM

Hi Katana

They seem to be Tanzanian and not Zulu to me. The wood and the style does not seem Nguni or Swazi and definately not Xhosha. Could be Gogo tribe but it's hard to be sure. Still they are nice examples.

katana · 18th January 2010, 12:22 PM

Hi Lew,
thank you for your comments

,

The knobkerries were bought individually, at different times. The smaller one was described as a Zulu 'shield beater'

The larger, hand tooled one seems to be made in the Zulu 'mould' (mold

) I have seen provenanced Zulu knobkerries that are not made from the usual bi-coloured wood and number of which were hand carved. In fact, I have been told that the majority of the bi-coloured type are early 20th C onwards (an opinion of a 'Zulu' collector)

Unfortunately, Spring hardly mentions knobkerries in "African arms and Armour" and Stone's " A glossary.......Arms and Armour...." mentions even less.

Tried to search google for "Gogo club" in image search..but just get pictures of scantily clad females

not a bad thing, but not really helpful

All the best
David

18th January 2010, 12:22 PM	#2
katana Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kent Posts: 2,658	Hi Lew, thank you for your comments , The knobkerries were bought individually, at different times. The smaller one was described as a Zulu 'shield beater' The larger, hand tooled one seems to be made in the Zulu 'mould' (mold ) I have seen provenanced Zulu knobkerries that are not made from the usual bi-coloured wood and number of which were hand carved. In fact, I have been told that the majority of the bi-coloured type are early 20th C onwards (an opinion of a 'Zulu' collector) Unfortunately, Spring hardly mentions knobkerries in "African arms and Armour" and Stone's " A glossary.......Arms and Armour...." mentions even less. Tried to search google for "Gogo club" in image search..but just get pictures of scantily clad females not a bad thing, but not really helpful All the best David Last edited by katana; 18th January 2010 at 08:58 PM.

16th January 2010, 09:02 PM	#1
Lew (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: East Coast USA Posts: 3,191	Hi Katana They seem to be Tanzanian and not Zulu to me. The wood and the style does not seem Nguni or Swazi and definately not Xhosha. Could be Gogo tribe but it's hard to be sure. Still they are nice examples.