The double edged blade is 6½ inches (16.4 cm) long to the hilt, including the silver plates overlying the forte, and has a lenticular cross section. The blade is 0.7 inches (0.2 cm) thick just beyond the silver plates and the blade surfaces are mostly bright with fine grinding marks still evident, but some areas of discoloration are noted, but are without significant pitting. One of the silver plates covering the forte is engraved with typical Tuareg motifs while the other is unembellished. The hilt is comprised of a rectangular section of silver engraved on one face, a dark wood center for the grip and a tapering round cylindrical silver section terminating the hilt. These components separated by four sections of stacked brass and synthetic layers. The dagger is just under 10½ inches (26.5 cm) and weighs 2.5 ounces (71 grams). The sheath is composed or dark leather trimmed with silver, engraved on the display face, and thin green leather and two loops are mounted in conjunction with the ferrule at the mouth. Green waxy debris is present in some areas adjacent to the leather; this cleared away well from the silver plates on the blade, but likely will have stained the lighter leather at the mouth permanently. Sheathed length is about 10¾ inches (27.2 cm) with a weight of 3.8 ounces (109 grams). The silver work is typical of that being done in Agadez, Niger in the last quarter of the 20th century. The synthetic in the layered stacks is urea formaldehyde (aka linoleum) based upon analysis of similar work by the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian website notes: 'This "sandwich" technique originated in Mauritania and became known to Tuareg smiths when the Moors migrated eastward during the Sahelian drought of the 1970s and 1980s.'
