Iklwa!

[kronckew]

it wasn't the vendor is in the UK, tho it must have been a while ago he collected it and brought it back here. like most places, the good old pieces were snapped up by collectors like us, and are very hard to find in their original source areas. we, effectively, cut our own throats.

while it used to be common practice, the modern western armies no longer allow battle trophies to be acquired - it's a court martial offence in the US. still happens tho, further depleting original sources with provenance.

even here, it's hard to find good pieces, but you get lucky occasionally. someone selling grandpa's collection who has no interest in it and just wants to get rid of the (to him) junk. had a new neighbour who, when i first visited them, saw he had a beautiful well patinated zulu knobkerrie mounted over the living room/kitchen door.he found it in his granny's attic when she passed and liked it, but had no idea what it was until i told him. probably could have got it off him for a few pounds, but that wouldn't have been neighbourly. i fear a lot of good stuff was just discarded during house clearances, lost during ww2 bombing, and turned in to the police for destruction during police weapons amnesties.