Sawfish sword

[Tim Simmons]

I would just like to question the rather sweeping asumption that these and in saying so, many weapons made from animal parts or bone should be labelled 'sailor made or tourist trinket'. Many peoples where metal , the knowledege and equipment to make metal weapons is limited, the use of natural materials is common. All those cassowary bone knives, that shell axe post earlier in this thread and many more can all too easily be dismissed by saying 'sailor made' and all the time this statement is unsubstantiated. This is handy when you either do not Know much about or can not prove much about the material in question. The collecting world has been here before with artifacts from other lands, Africa comes to mind, also the bird knife post I made some years ago. All I know is that this came from a reputable source. Tim