Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


107 - West African Kirdi Culture Sword, Late 19th Century

A nice, straight double-edged sword with deep fullers on a convex face with a low central midrib and an opposite flat face with only shallow lines. The clearly hand forged blade has slight imperfections consistent with non-industrially produced iron and patchy old dark brown staining is evident. The hilt is formed of dark horn, to include the cross guard with the demarcation between the hilt components having a band of braided leather. A decorated iron hilt cap completes the hilt. Unfortunately, someone has disrespected the piece and drilled a hole in the blade nearing the tip and another through the horn handle, likely to mount the sword to a wall or display. Lew dated this example as circa 1880 to 1890. The leaf shaped blade is just under 24½ inches in length with an overall length of 28½ inches and a weight of 19.6 ounces.




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