New African knife
 

I recently found this copper knife on a Belgian auction site. When I received it, I was happily surprised to find out it was quite a good piece.

The copper blade shows hammermarks and is constructed as most Centralafrican blades are : one side of the blade is higher than the other side.

What intrigued me most was the handle. To me, it look Mangbetu. But I have never seen a Mangbetu knife with a similar blade (I'm still young, though :p )

Other opinions are appreciated.

The pics are perhaps not entirely clear, these are the ones from the auction site. I can always make other ones.

Ah yes, I forgot : this knife measures 28,5 cm.

Certainly not my area of expertise (little is), but when I see red/yellow copper
I tend to think newly made. How old do you think this piece to be? My copper
tea kettle which is now nearly black/dark brown is only about 25 years old.

Rich

Doesn't seem very old to me too.
Looks like the style of handle and blade don't fit together.

IN THE PAST COPPER AND BRASS BLADES WERE USUALLY FOR CEREMONIAL USE AND OFTEN IT WAS THOUGHT THAT SUCH BLADES WOULD PROTECT AGAINST SOME FORCES OR EVIL SPIRITS OR CREATURES WHERE IRON WOULD NOT. I THINK DURING THAT TIME THE BLADES WOULD HAVE BEEN KEPT POLISHED AS THE PROTECTIVE POWERS WOULD HAVE BEEN STRONGER AND MORE OBVIOUS TO THE EVIL CRITTERS. BASED ON SOMETHING I READ LONG AGO SOMEWHERE SO CONSIDER IT CONJECTURE OR CORRECT ME. :shrug:
TODAY I SUSPECT IT IS DONE AS BLING!! THE COPPER BLADE DOES SET OFF THE BLACK HANDLE. :D AND LIKE MANY I DO LIKE MY BLING :D

I don't think it is as new as it looks on the first pics.

Vandoo has a point when he states that sometimes weapons were polished. Even irons weapons from Africa were polished. Each warrior likes to tend to his 'tools of trade'.

Here are some more pics. I took them without flashlight.

Only my thoughts! Since Freddy have bought it from an auction house nobody will know for sure who have polished the blade, most proable the former owner/collector IMHO.
But what look weird is how the blade is attached to the handle. :shrug:
Freddy, can you take some close ups from the handle? And what you think byself? Is the handle old and show patination?

Regards,
Detlef

It looks Mangbetu probably is Mangbetu. I feel sure I have seen a steel blade blade much the same without the marks.

The blade is fastened to the handle by means of some kind of resin (?). Mostly, Mangbetu pieces have a tang which goes through the handle. This is not the case with this knife.

I took a pic of the base of the blade. Hopefully, you can see the way this blade is fixed to the handle.

Just found a picture of similar handles. These are attributed to the Mangbetu. Compare them to the handle on my knife.

This picture comes from the book 'Rare African Short Weapons' by Manfred A. Zirngibl (1983)