Sword from Angola. Chokwe, Salampasu?

[Pertinax]

Yaka with swords

[Pertinax]

Got the sword.

Well, what can I say – a real African gladius.

In general, the sword pleasantly surprised me with its quality of manufacture. If you don’t take into account swords with European blades, then, perhaps, such quality of forging is rare for Africa, except for Berber fleece.

A fully functional item, definitely not a souvenir.

Overall length – 580 mm, blade length – 455 mm, blade thickness – 6-7 mm, weight – 508 g

The wooden handle is covered with leather. Upon careful inspection, I came to the conclusion that the pommel could have been in the shape of a cone, but was broken off during use.

In the thread about Baule http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8143, participants expressed the opinion that the handle has nails for upholstery from the 19th century, clearly of European manufacture. Looking at swords with similar decor on the handle, I thought that the items were made +/- at the same time and in the same region, by different tribes. Such nails are not found on later items.

As a version - at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, traders brought a batch of nails for upholstery to this region, and local blacksmiths began to use them in decorating swords.

What are the opinions?

[Ian]

Nice sword Pertinax, and the patina on the hilt and blade do suggest some age. The presence of these upholstery nails does seem to indicate a late 19th/early 20th C foreign influence. Perhaps it was simpler (and cheaper) to use brass nails to embellish the hilts rather than some of the traditional cast brass/bronze elements. There appears to be residue from an old polishing compound between and around the nails, again an influence from outside the culture.

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Ian

Nice sword Pertinax, and the patina on the hilt and blade do suggest some age. The presence of these upholstery nails does seem to indicate a late 19th/early 20th C foreign influence. Perhaps it was simpler (and cheaper) to use brass nails to embellish the hilts rather than some of the traditional cast brass/bronze elements. There appears to be residue from an old polishing compound between and around the nails, again an influence from outside the culture.

This is not an old polishing compound, this is leather. The handle is wooden, covered with leather.

[Ian]

I was referring to the white material that surrounds many of the nail heads. I realize that the base is leather, but the white material is not leather. Another possibility is mildew resulting from some moisture on the hilt.

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Ian

I was referring to the white material that surrounds many of the nail heads. I realize that the base is leather, but the white material is not leather. Another possibility is mildew resulting from some moisture on the hilt.

This is mold on old leather.

Do you think, Ian, that we can determine the age of swords like this by the upholstery tacks?

[Ian]

Pertinax,

Your question sent me looking into brass upholstery nails and their history. That led to brass nails in general, which have also been used on saddlery and other leather products. By far the most common use for brass nails has been in the upholstery trade, so I'll just deal with that. [I've learned that these are called brass nails not brass tacks, so will use nails to describe them).

Earliest use of brass nails for upholstery seems to have been in France during the 17th C. Thomas Chippendale brought brass nails into high fashion in the mid-18th C, with his hallmark "nail trim." The following picture comes from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY and shows a beautiful Chippendale chair with a decorative row of brass nail heads. This was considered elite and prestigious during the Regency period in England. It was not until the Victorian period that similar brass nail decorations started to appear on items for the middle class. Thus, common use of brass nails in upholstery seems to have become established around the mid-19th C.

To what extent this general availability of brass nails in Britain/Europe in the second half of the 19th C may have influenced what was available in Africa is hard to say. However, it seems reasonable to think that these brass nails probably filtered through to Africa, via British/European ex-patriots and trade, probably around the 1860s. [I have not found evidence for Asian sources of these brass nails, although some probably existed as the manufacture of brass nails has been around for a long time.] Allowing time for diffusion of these goods to more remote areas of Africa, the availability of brass nails for decorating knives, etc. may have been from about 1870-1880 onwards. This fits with the chronlogy of a Congo knife I have that was said to be collected in the 1880s and had a small number of brass nails on the hilt. Here are some pics pf that knife. Note the dark patina to the hilt, consistent with its estimated age.

Lastly, can we date swords from this brief historical look at brass nails? I think we can perhaps set an earliest date for brass nails decorating hilts or scabbards at about 1860-1870, but that tells us little about the blade which, of course, could be older or younger than the hilt or scabbard so decorated.