African Copper Axe
Hi All,
My wife is partial to copper and African handicrafts so I bought her this axe a year ago. The haft is copper clad wood. This cladding consists of four main sections, two cover the upper portion of the haft and two cover the lower. You can just make out the horizontal seam where the upper and lower portions meet. There is also a vertical seam that runs up the sides and along the top. A separate section (or two) encloses the flaired butt. The copper is nailed to the wood of the haft by tiny hand cut nails that are placed chiefly along the seams but are also liberally sprinkled elsewhere. I assume the nails are also copper (although they could be brass) since there was no attraction to a magnet placed over them and because there is not the type of discoloration surrounding them as would occur if the nails were ferrous metal. As indicated by the repousse faces on each side, the blade must be made in two halves but the joint is so fine that it is almost invisible even when viewed with a jeweler's loupe. Does anyone have any idea which group of folks made this piece?
Sincerely,
RobT
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