Brass bayonet style dagger, West African
 

Total length 325mm, blade 215mm. Ivory handle, finished with aluminium. I am sure it is not zinc. I do not normally go for things without a scabbard except some African items as with this piece. It would not fit on a gun the hole is far too small, only the tip of my little finger fits in. From a car boot sale this morning for peanuts :D. Weird :cool:

Looking at the white metal again I think it is mabe some sort of lead/tin mix even zinc but not aluminium.

Just finished a soapy clean of the handle. It is not bone or elephant ivory it must be hippo or wild boar tusk.

Perhaps it is aluminium but certainly not the high grade stuff we are familiar with today. at one time it was a precious metal. I cannot tell.

Just one more thing.
 

Compere the two styles of these handles. The triangular facet decoration. There was at one time a brass wire in the groove of the dark wood handle. A small piece remains. Could be from the same area, workshop even.

The one with the tusk grip looks quite a bit like a spanish misericord dagger with a bayonet guard. Very interesting piece.

I have no idea what this Spanish dagger looks like. Can you show one? I have been looking at bayonets and many countries went in for that kind of guard towards the end of the 19th century. This could also be contemporary with the use of aluminium as an metal for the elite.