Some African spear blades

[Freddy]

In Belgium, we often have the opportunity to find weaponry from Africa, especially Congo.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon these three spear blades. I just bought them because they were cheap. One in particular interested me because of its shape. When the parcel arrived, I was very surprised to find that two were a bit peculiar

First let me show you the ordinary one. Just a straightforward spear blade. No decoration, just a functional piece. Nevertheless, I noticed, when I was cleaning it,that it was very well forged.

Total length : 27 cm



The second one, I bought because I thought it was a currency blade. I have a similar one in my collection. The auction didn't mention any measurements, so I guessed it was an ordinary piece.
To my surprise it's very small.

Total length : 21,5.



I took a picture of both my pieces to compare. The big one measures about 68 cm and is 16,5 cm wide (at the bottom). HUGE !
Like I said, these spear blades were used as currency. Perhaps the little one is 'small change' ?



Now the last one. When I saw the picture, I took it for a Japanese arrowhead. Anyway, it looked like one. But it's too big, I think. Total length : 22 cm. Length of blade : 12,5 cm).
Upon examining it, it looked definitively African.





Now my question ! Has anyone seen similar pieces like the last two ? Any comment ?

[Tim Simmons]

This is my big bucks spear at 64cm but with copper dots and on a stick. The unusual spear head is very stricking and not the first time you have shown us tanged spear heads from the Congo/central Africa. It seems that good and complete examples are quite rare. Tim

[B.I]

seems like the christmas decorations are up in the simmons home. i wonder if there was any left for the tree :-)

[Tim Simmons]

No tree this year, the dogs eat bits off it.