A Luba knife

Freddy · 29th December 2006, 09:03 PM

Last week, I was able to buy an entire collection of African weapons. Among these pieces was this dagger.

In my (humble) opinion, it is from the Luba-tribe. I found a dagger with a similar blade in one of my books.

I hope you can see on the pics, this knife has a well forged blade. The wooden handle has been embellished with some copper strips. At the top of the handle, an iron ring has been added.
Total length : 36 cm. Length of blade : 25,5 cm

As I'm not at all sure of the origin, I would appreciate any 'input' from the other forum members.

Flavio · 29th December 2006, 09:20 PM

Hi Freddy, on Westerdijk's book there are two drawns of similar daggers-short swords in the XIII Groep (2-3) lulua-songye-luba. Something that could be similar with your piece is the sword on Fischer-Zirngibl, but is attributed to the Tchokwe (

). On Waffen aus Zentral Afrika there is the most similar and is attributed to the luba. So it's clearly of the southern area of Congo

VANDOO · 30th December 2006, 03:56 AM

A GOOD QUALITY AFRICAN KNIFE WELL MADE AND ATTRACTIVE. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THE SIMULARITIES BETWEEN THIS EXAMPLE AND THE PHILIPPINE MANDAYIA DAGGERS.

Freddy · 30th December 2006, 09:10 PM

What Vandoo is writing is quite interesting. Some time ago, I had a conversation with a Dutch friend about the influence Southeastasian statues had on statues from East-Africa. He sees similarities in, for example, the position of the shoulders and arms.

Also, in his book - 'The Sickle Weapons - Part III' - the author Jan Elsen states that when he was doing research concerning these weapons, he found out that some of the Eastafrican tools/weapons (sickle knives) had a resemblance with weapons from Southeast-Asia (Borneo, Sumatra, Timor and even Vietnam).
Through trade between East-Africa and Asia, it's well possible that all kinds of influences entered Africa.

So it could well be that a particular shape of some type of knife followed the same 'route'.

29th December 2006, 09:03 PM	#1
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	A Luba knife Last week, I was able to buy an entire collection of African weapons. Among these pieces was this dagger. In my (humble) opinion, it is from the Luba-tribe. I found a dagger with a similar blade in one of my books. I hope you can see on the pics, this knife has a well forged blade. The wooden handle has been embellished with some copper strips. At the top of the handle, an iron ring has been added. Total length : 36 cm. Length of blade : 25,5 cm As I'm not at all sure of the origin, I would appreciate any 'input' from the other forum members.

29th December 2006, 09:20 PM	#2
Flavio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Italia Posts: 1,243	Hi Freddy, on Westerdijk's book there are two drawns of similar daggers-short swords in the XIII Groep (2-3) lulua-songye-luba. Something that could be similar with your piece is the sword on Fischer-Zirngibl, but is attributed to the Tchokwe ( ). On Waffen aus Zentral Afrika there is the most similar and is attributed to the luba. So it's clearly of the southern area of Congo Attached Images

30th December 2006, 03:56 AM	#3
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	A GOOD QUALITY AFRICAN KNIFE WELL MADE AND ATTRACTIVE. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THE SIMULARITIES BETWEEN THIS EXAMPLE AND THE PHILIPPINE MANDAYIA DAGGERS. Attached Images

30th December 2006, 09:10 PM	#4
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	What Vandoo is writing is quite interesting. Some time ago, I had a conversation with a Dutch friend about the influence Southeastasian statues had on statues from East-Africa. He sees similarities in, for example, the position of the shoulders and arms. Also, in his book - 'The Sickle Weapons - Part III' - the author Jan Elsen states that when he was doing research concerning these weapons, he found out that some of the Eastafrican tools/weapons (sickle knives) had a resemblance with weapons from Southeast-Asia (Borneo, Sumatra, Timor and even Vietnam). Through trade between East-Africa and Asia, it's well possible that all kinds of influences entered Africa. So it could well be that a particular shape of some type of knife followed the same 'route'.