TEBU DAGGER in FISHTAIL SCABBARD
 

I have quite a lot of Tebu type daggers all in the usual scabbards however this one has a fishtail design . Have other members encountered this , does it have any significance ?

I think this just is an alternate scabbard style. :shrug:

Fair enough , but I wonder if any members have seen them before like this ?

Yes I have seen a few of these over the years and are less common than the standard scabbard.

OK thats interesting ... its just the only one I have had in this style . I had hoped it might be a particular era or ethnic group, thanks for your comments.

THE FIRST OF THESE I SAW IN THE 1960'S HAD THE FISH TAIL OR THE REMAINS OF A TAIL. THE MORE RECENT ONES I HAVE SEEN NO LONGER BOTHER TO ADD THE FISH TAIL. SO IT MAY BE FROM A OLDER PERIOD OR FROM A AREA WHERE THEY STILL ADHERE TO THE OLD TRADITIONS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FISH TAIL ORIGINALLY STOOD FOR BUT THE FISH IS A OLD CRISTIAN SYMBOL.

Thanks Vandoo , that is helpful
Cheers.

hello together
here are my tebu Daggers

Here are two of mine. A dagger and a short sword.

Very nice
Thank you

That short sword is brilliant ... what kind of dimensions is it ?

Yes, I also think it (fish tail) depends on era and the big role plays the area (clan or subclan). The Chregu´s dagger on the left is also very old (and nice !). Unfortunately, my "Sahel arm daggers" are a little bit more ordinary - see photo (only two of Tebbu style)
Regards
Martin

Thanks Martin , very nice collection though !

Just thort we'd chuck our five pennies worth into this thread with a picture of one of our Tebu's. This one has a nice age and a slightly different scabbard design than we've seen before. Incidently, the previous owner insisted the weapon was of North American origin; we of course tried to enlightend him but as an auctioner told him of its high plains history, we stood no chance! :shrug:

How very interesting .... thats a real nice dagger and what a scabbard! Thanks for showing it
Richmond

Came across an older thread today with another couple fishtail examples.

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8079

Thanks Iain ... excellent .

I am attaching another example with a fishtail to add to the database.

Regards,
Teodor

While these are associated with the Tebu, they seem to have been popular around lake Chad among other groups. In Smaldone, there is a picture of "Hausa daggers" from the collections of the Smithsonian, including one with a fish tail scabbard. The attribution of course is somewhat questionable.

I recently obtained a copy of the 1985 catalogue of Central African weapons from the Ethnographic Art Museum in Frankfurt. While the book is literally just a catalogue of items with black and white photos, it is very useful in one regard: it provides notes on the date and place the items were collected. For the purpose of this topic, there is a dagger very similar to the ones in this thread, and particularly similar to the one shown by Chregu in post #8. It is described as Sultan's knife from Goulfey, with a local name provided as well:"mogheo te me". We also know that it was collected during the Duke of Mecklenburg's expedition in Cameroon in 1910-1911, which at least establishes these daggers as early 20th century, potentially even earlier.

So, what does Sultan's Knife mean? Goulfey is nowadays a small town in Cameroon's far north, just South of Lake Chad. The German version of Wikipedia provides some information about the Sultanate of Goulfey, which prior to the colonization of Cameroon was a city state, vassal to the Kotoko Kingdom, which in turn was part of Kanem Bornu. Maybe these daggers were status items, or maybe the Sultan of Goulfey happened to give one to the Germans as a present, who knows.

Snake tongue scabbard
 

Hello,

Here are photos of my Tebu (Tubu) dagger from the Daza tribe in northern Chad and Niger, and a map showing the general location of the Daza. The forked tail scabbard is made of a combination of leather and snake skin. This design is fairly rare and a source (long ago) told me that the forked "snake tongue" scabbard is a status symbol reserved for those with the highest prestige. OAL is 14 inches. The blade is slightly diamond in cross section, with stamped markings and parallel linear design features along the sides of the blade that appear on both sides.

- Dave A.

Thank you
 

Very useful information! The term "Sultan's Dagger" aligns with what a source of mine said. I've posted pictures and info of my own tebu (tubu) elsewhere in this thread.

- Dave A.

About the Daza
 

Here is a link to more info about the Daza:

http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctr...CD&rop3=102484

Hello Dave,

nice knife!:) Be careful, I see active rust, it would be shame when the blade get eaten. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

rust
 

Those are old, original pics. Rust is long gone!

Good like this. ;)