This style of 'X-hilted' dagger is typical of the Beja Hadendoa or Beni-Amir peoples of Eritrea and the Sudan that live along the southwestern shores of the Red Sea. The dark brown wooden hilt has fluted carvings and geometric carvings on the outer tips of the 'arms' (see bottom photo). The curved double edge blade has a low midline and a small group of three short lines perpendicular to the blade length upon each darkly finished face along with hammer marks from forging and some patches of shallow pitting. Overall length of the dagger with hilt is just under 11½ inches (29 cm); the blade alone is 7¾ inches (19.5 cm) in length. An accompanying brown embossed leather sheath shows damage at the tip; including the sheath the overall length is just under 12½ inches (31.5 cm). Overall weight is about 7.3 ounces (208 grams) with the dagger alone weighing 5.7 ounces (163 grams). Lew dated this example to the 1920s - 1940s.