West African sword for I.D. & comment

colin henshaw · 1st March 2016, 09:34 AM

Thanks for the further comments on this sword, glad to see its of interest.

Jim, you've made an astute observation on those "vestigial langets", they had not really registered with me. The possible cross-cultural European influence concept seems quite plausible. It should be borne in mind that Europeans first came into contact with these West African coastal areas as far back as the 15th century... Its quite a long heavy sword with a short grip, I wonder if the "sandwich" area was meant for gripping with the other hand ?

A puzzlement to me is the lack of a protection for the hand on the sword hilt, not even a cross-guard... Does anyone have ideas why this is so ?

1st March 2016, 09:34 AM	#9
colin henshaw Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,429	Thanks for the further comments on this sword, glad to see its of interest. Jim, you've made an astute observation on those "vestigial langets", they had not really registered with me. The possible cross-cultural European influence concept seems quite plausible. It should be borne in mind that Europeans first came into contact with these West African coastal areas as far back as the 15th century... Its quite a long heavy sword with a short grip, I wonder if the "sandwich" area was meant for gripping with the other hand ? A puzzlement to me is the lack of a protection for the hand on the sword hilt, not even a cross-guard... Does anyone have ideas why this is so ?