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25th August 2017, 08:56 AM
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#1 |
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: I live in Gordon's Bay, a village in the Western Cape Province in South Africa.
Posts: 126
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Spiked African Axe
Good day to you all. I purchased this african spiked axe many years ago at an auction house and have not managed to ID it at all yet. Please be so kind as to offer your opinions as to its possible ethnographic origin. I would be most pleased.
It has a length of 43 cm. Johan |
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26th August 2017, 09:41 AM
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#2 |
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,430
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Very unusual, it seems to be a combination of styles. There are some axes from the Congo with carved human heads and axes from the Mozambique area with antelope carved heads, incorporating long horns. The flamboyant shaped blade is also atypical. That scorched decoration to the handle is sometimes found on Barotse axes.
Not sure how old it could be. Hopefully someone else can shed more light on the piece. |
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26th August 2017, 10:57 AM
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#3 |
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: What is still UK
Posts: 5,806
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Colin beat me to it. I have looked in all my books on African weapons but could not find one picture of an example with quite the same combination of unusual features. In my opinion it is possibly Zambia/Congo border Taabwa people but just a guess. I recently watched a very interesting docudrama about "Spicer-Simson" and the attack of the German navy based on the other side of lake Tanganyika. A nice axe.
Last edited by Tim Simmons; 26th August 2017 at 01:21 PM. |
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26th August 2017, 03:24 PM
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#4 |
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: I live in Gordon's Bay, a village in the Western Cape Province in South Africa.
Posts: 126
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Colin & Tim, thank you for your comments. I'm on tenterhooks to see if someone else might shed more light on this axe. It seems to be well made and neatly finished, that is why I don't push it aside yet, or relegate it to the "tourist" box. Too bad the auction house could not enlighten me as to its origin.
 Johan |
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26th August 2017, 05:38 PM
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#5 |
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Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE
Posts: 4,408
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West African ...Congo...see https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393009504966097900/
Not exactly the same ... I suspect there are no copies!!!  maybe teke? Somewhere in that region ! or an axes throw from it...? |
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28th August 2017, 12:21 PM
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#6 |
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: I live in Gordon's Bay, a village in the Western Cape Province in South Africa.
Posts: 126
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Thanks, Ebrahim. Well, the three of you have all suggested "Congo", so maybe that's what it is. I wonder if I'll ever be able to ID this axe with certainty?
Johan |
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