Jim,
Your spear head, perhaps with a colored "flag" or strip, may have been among the several standards held up to identify and form up or otherwise organize various troop units at large parades, etc. that the Khalifa periodically held in Omdurman. There were thousands of troops and populous called out to participate and means were needed to provide order and avoid chaos. Alas, he didn't mention the organizational means, but the spear head seems plausible.
These events are mentioned by Rudolf Slatin, a 10 year prisoner of the Khalifa, in his book : Fire and Sword in the Sudan, P.530 & 531 Ch. XVI available from Project Gutenberg.
Best,
Ed
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