Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


143 - African Boa tribe (central Zaire) short sword, handle bound with copper strips

Overall length is 18 1/4 inches of which the blade is 15 1/4 inches; overall weight is 9.85 oz. The hilt is completely covered by wound copper strips crimped down with iron at either end. A slight bulging at the end of the hilt suggest the strips overlie a folded over tang at this point. The leaf shaped blade is decorated with multiple narrow chiseled lines in a similar pattern on either side. Lew dated this example to 1890 - 1900 in his notes.




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