Seme

[Interested Party]

A while back I found a small seme at a decent price. I have always regretted not trying to buy one from Maasai friends when I worked in southeast Kenya. This one is ribbed and clublike in its weight. Its overall length is 20 3/4", 52.5cm. The blade measures 15 1/2", 39.2cm long. 2 1/8" wide at spatula and 3/4", 2cm at handle. The rib is 1/4", 0.6cm at the spatula and 3/8", 0.9cm thick at the handle. The blade is almost hollow ground on either side of the rib. At the spatula tip it is slightly thicker on the edge than 1/2" back where it is 3/64", 0.2cm thick. It is much heavier than the working semes I saw 10-15 years ago made from cut down machetes which seemed to be used primarily as butcher knives. As I said this one is ribbed and Masai red but does not ever appear to have been sharpened and has a considerable blunt portion of the blade that extends 5", 12.5 cm up from the handle. This portion of the blade looks like it was never intended to have an edge.

What do you all think? A) was this a Masai blade? B) a tourist or just an old blade that was snatched up before it was ever used? C) If a tourist blade, are there production centers making ribbed blades for the tourist market due to demand for old fashioned blades?

Thanks for any help on this subject.
IP