Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


1138 - East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath

This unusually pronounced 'hooked' blade variant of an 'X-hilted' dagger is from the Beja Hadendoa or Beni-Amir peoples of Eritrea and the Sudan who live along the southwestern shores of the Red Sea. The dark brown wooden hilt has patchy lighter wood at the tips of the 'arms' and this lighter wood appears to have been subdued with a partially worn away dark finish. The hilt has fluted carvings arcing from the arms along the grip and the back of the hilt also has been decorated with lines and elongated depressions. The double edged blade rises to a shallowly raised midline and emerges straight from the hilt before curving at the end just over ninety degrees to one side. The blade surfaces are rough with honing and hammer marks discernible in addition to moderate pitting and patches of dark discoloration. Overall length of the dagger including the hilt measured parallel with the origin of the blade is just under 12 inches (30.6 cm); the blade alone is just over 7 7/8 inches (20.1 cm) long with the hook being 3 inches (7.3 cm) long measured perpendicular to an extension of the straight part of the midline. An accompanying dark brown leather covered wooden sheath shows black leather braid stitching along the mouth and the mouth's extension along the straight portion on the side the tip curves toward. Remains of a layer of blue plastic are seen around the braid, but have mostly broken away. With patience, the dagger may be fully inserted into the sheath such that, including the sheath, the overall length, measured as above, is 12 inches (30.7 cm). Overall weight is about 9½ ounces (269 grams) with the dagger alone weighing 5.8 ounces (269 grams).


East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath

East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath

East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath

East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath

East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath

East African Beja Tribe X-Hilt Hooked-Blade Variant Dagger with Sheath



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