STRANGE AXE HEAD

[A Senefelder]

I will venture only this, from the obvious forging marks visible on it , i'm going to say that Japanese is out ( in my humble opinion ), i've seen this sort of simple functionality on pieces from Europe, the Americas, and a little less so from indo persia/turkey but have never encountered that level of " obvious " forging in my limited exposure to Japanese work in arms and armour. Even the mass produced armours for muskettiers of the 16th and 17th century period of high Japanese conflict have a finish that is generally above European " munitions " armour. I'm very far from an expert in this area but the lack of finish doesn't feel right for Japanese. On the flip side the shape of the cutting edge is one of the oddest i've seen, ranking up there with some of the two pointed boliva axes from India. While later European axe heads had tended to have the head inclined forward twords the top of the edge to better utilize force in a downward stroke from the saddle there is almost no way for the under part of the cutting edge in this axe to be used to inflict damage at the angle it is made at. I almost wonder if this is not some sort of early specilialty axe for perhaps cutting ice for cold storage? Just a guess. Better trained eyes than mind will come up with something i'm sure.

[fearn]

Hi Royston and all,

I've been scratching my head on this one too. The thing I wonder is whether the axe head was reshaped for some special function. One way to look at it is whether there are production axes which have a more normal ax-head profile and are otherwise identical.

Best,

F

[M ELEY]

Fearn has a good point. Many of these older tools were re-shaped over time to be used for a specific purpose. If you note the thickness of the spike end versus the edged end, it may be that this might have been a spike hammer at one time, but flattened into said shape to act as another type of tool. As a collector of spike axes, I had an axe at one time with similar head with thickened spike and thinner down-turned blade that was some sort of rock hammer, but had been reshaped into a ginseng axe for digging up roots. I agree with American or European, with the shape resembling many of the Underhill tool patterns of early-mid 19th century. Haven't seen this exact shape, so this is just my opinion. Hartsler & Knowles "American Indian Tomahawks and Frontiersmen's Trade Axes" is an excellent resource, with some of the tool-type spike axes in the back reference.

[broadaxe]

I must ask for exact measures & weight, + photos of the cross section.
Stubby spike and very short, steep edge may suggest this is a stone dressing/mining/quaring tool.

[Jim McDougall]

any thoughts on the markings?

[broadaxe]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

any thoughts on the markings?

The mark is generic. I see those both on north american tomahawks and middle eastern axes

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by broadaxe

The mark is generic. I see those both on north american tomahawks and middle eastern axes

Well noted. These generic and universal type symbols are known in thier simplicity to often be most likely convergant. However, the placement of them in this particular location on the head corresponds to the many examples of colonial and frontier America I have seen.

Certainly markings exist on many forms of many cultures, but these in this position seem strategically placed, even if not specifically identifiable.

All the best,
Jim