Nice shield, Flavio.
I also found one last week. In fact, I knew where it was for some time, but the price was too high. So, last week I was able to get it for a good price.
In the shop, I had already examined this shield a few times. It looked OK. But when I got home, I started wondering in which way the handle was fastened to the basketry part. To my surprise, I found out it was screwed to the rattan part ! ! !
! ! !
In my opinion, the handle was of bit 'off-centre'. When I look at pictures of similar shield, the handle is always in the middle.
I guess, the original handle was lost and replaced at some time by the current one.
But still...it's a very nice and old shield. Some damage at the edges, where it touched the ground. But nothing too serious.
Now, I'm planning to restore it.
Flavio, could you post a detailed picture of the handle of your shield and the way it's fastened ? It would be a great help. Could you also tell me what kind of material (rattan ?) is used to fasten the wooden handle to the basketry ?
Here are some pics of my Mongo shield. It measures 147 cm.
Often we speak of the Mongo people. This is a name given to a group of different tribes from a region in Congo, among them : the Ngandu, Saka, Tsongo, Kota, Kote, Nkole and Northern Ntomba.