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Old 25th October 2005, 07:34 PM   #4
Freddy
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium)
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Nothing wrong with this 'seme'. It looks like a good working knife/sword. It's probably not very old. This blade is most certainly made from some kind of European machete, hence the mark on the blade.

I had a look around on the internet, but up to now I couldn't find this brand name. Perhaps an older brand (before internet days) ?

An older and forged 'seme' has a typical rib in the middle of the blade. Something we don't find with the newer pieces. These are often ground down from a piece of metal or a machete (like yours).

Here's an older type :





To see some nice, older examples, go to this site http://anthro.amnh.org/

Then choose : Collections Database (top left on this page)

Then go to : African Etnographic Collection

You will find a search engine : type MASAI and SWORD


By the way, this site is worth exploring.
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