African swords for ID

mariusgmioc · 3rd July 2021, 01:19 PM

Hello,
Can you please help me identify these African swords?

Marc M. · 3rd July 2021, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Hello,
Can you please help me identify these African swords?

Hi Marius

Top left: konda , Congo
Top right: yaka , congo
Bottom left: not sure, maybe chokwe, kuba
Bottem right: if the handle ends in a metal spade, maybe tebu , tchad, Central Africa.

Best regards
Marc

Araña_del_Sol · 6th July 2021, 12:48 AM

To add to Marc's IDs, the bottom left is likely Hausa though I have seen daggers/swords of this type attributed to the Fulani and Tikar as well. The bottom right looks like a mix of Tebu and Sudanese (Ingessana?) styles

- ADS

mariusgmioc · 6th July 2021, 04:16 PM

Thank you very much!

Duccio · 8th July 2021, 12:00 AM

Hi,
I think Marc is right: the first is definitely Konda and the second is definitely Yaka; I'm pretty sure the bottom left knife is a Kuba, the handle decoration is typical.
You can see a very similar one on the site of "Memoire africaine"
http://www.memoire-africaine.com/armes2.html
The last is more difficult: the scabbard seems to have been made from the tail of a small crocodile, so it could be from Sudanese area, probably the hypothesis that it is Ingessana (or Fur) is correct.
In the archive of Ethan Rider's photographs you can see a knife with a practically identical hilt, the blade instead is a little different.
https://ertribal.com/index.php/triba...ngessana-sudan
Greetings to all.

mariusgmioc · 10th July 2021, 08:57 AM

Thank you very much!

Martin Lubojacky · 19th July 2021, 05:18 PM

Dear Duccio,

Thank you for posting the link to the interesting website www.memoire-africaine.com. However, I am afraid there is some missunderstanding here. The knife you describe as "bottom left" is more probably from the northeastern part of Nigeria or from the northern Nigerian borderland. The shape of the handle is in Hausa style, the shape/style of the blade is like from the surroundings of north Cameroonian city of Maroua, the engarved ornaments on the blade are typical for Sahel. You are absolutely right, the handle decoration resembles the style of Kuba.

Best regards,

Martin

3rd July 2021, 01:19 PM	#1
mariusgmioc Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Austria Posts: 1,903	African swords for ID Hello, Can you please help me identify these African swords? Attached Images Last edited by mariusgmioc; 3rd July 2021 at 02:00 PM.

6th July 2021, 12:48 AM	#3
Araña_del_Sol Member Join Date: Oct 2018 Posts: 47	To add to Marc's IDs, the bottom left is likely Hausa though I have seen daggers/swords of this type attributed to the Fulani and Tikar as well. The bottom right looks like a mix of Tebu and Sudanese (Ingessana?) styles - ADS

6th July 2021, 04:16 PM	#4
mariusgmioc Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Austria Posts: 1,903	Thank you very much!

8th July 2021, 12:00 AM	#5
Duccio Member Join Date: May 2020 Location: Florence, Italy Posts: 64	Hi, I think Marc is right: the first is definitely Konda and the second is definitely Yaka; I'm pretty sure the bottom left knife is a Kuba, the handle decoration is typical. You can see a very similar one on the site of "Memoire africaine" http://www.memoire-africaine.com/armes2.html The last is more difficult: the scabbard seems to have been made from the tail of a small crocodile, so it could be from Sudanese area, probably the hypothesis that it is Ingessana (or Fur) is correct. In the archive of Ethan Rider's photographs you can see a knife with a practically identical hilt, the blade instead is a little different. https://ertribal.com/index.php/triba...ngessana-sudan Greetings to all.

10th July 2021, 08:57 AM	#6
mariusgmioc Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Austria Posts: 1,903	Thank you very much!

19th July 2021, 05:18 PM	#7
Martin Lubojacky Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 841	Dear Duccio, Thank you for posting the link to the interesting website www.memoire-africaine.com. However, I am afraid there is some missunderstanding here. The knife you describe as "bottom left" is more probably from the northeastern part of Nigeria or from the northern Nigerian borderland. The shape of the handle is in Hausa style, the shape/style of the blade is like from the surroundings of north Cameroonian city of Maroua, the engarved ornaments on the blade are typical for Sahel. You are absolutely right, the handle decoration resembles the style of Kuba. Best regards, Martin