Group of small African knives for comments

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Hello Jury,

I've expressed my view just before. I have never been to continental Africa but have visited Asia several times. It is a very similar climatic condition there. Before wood like the handles from Ians "new" knives receive such a glossy patina it needs minimum years and it's a little bit unintelligible to me that you are obviously not able to see that, sorry!

Look again please!

Hello Detlef

I visited both Africa and Asia, the climatic conditions there are different. Africa has more humidity.

I'm not insisting on anything, I'm just expressing my opinion, maybe I'm wrong.

The items presented by Ians are 50-70 years old, my item is 5 years old.

Regarding ethnographic weapons, this is normal business for the countries that travelers visit. Examples: Oman - khanjar, Yemen - jambia, Morocco - kummiya, Indonesia – keris...

In Africa, too, since travelers began to visit it, in every country local artisans have been producing inexpensive ethnographic weapons for every taste and budget.

Regards, Yuri

[Ian]

Hi Yuri and Detlef. Quite a spirited discussion!

I'm not overly concerned if these were made for native use or were simply sold to tourists as cultural mementos. As Detlef points out, they could (and maybe were) used for specific purposes. The thin blades could be used for some household purposes, or they may be simply ornamental. I don't know. Perhaps our other African experts could opine on their utility or otherwise. What more interests me, however, is that they are ethnographic cultural items from the mid- to late-20th C (that probably reflect earlier customs). I think at least a couple of them show signs of use and perhaps sharpening, and they all shows signs of being handled frequently in my opinion.