African Arm Dagger...finally!

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Manolo

Thanks!

I'll look for an appropriate sheath...I just noticed on the second to last picture it looks like a chunk is broken off the hilt...too bad, it lookd almost perfect!
Any ideas about where specifically examples like this one come from? They seem to vary a lot in shape and blade quality...are some variants specific to certain countries or ethnic groups?

Emanuel

Manolo, don't be alarmed because a piece of the hilt is missing. I looked at the picture and it seems to be an old break. This could mean your piece has some age to it.

As to the provenance, Tim is quite right when he states that the origin could be West-Africa. These knives were traded all over the Sahara region and beyond. There are a lot of different styles of arm dagger to be found.

Here is a brand new arm dagger. It was bought by a person who worked in the Sudan, near Darfur. He bought this knife in 2004, in a village between El Fasher, El Geneina and Nyala. The blade is cut from a piece of steel and razor sharp. In addition to the knife, the sheath also contains a long needle and a pair of tweezers. The sheath is made from leather. But to 'embellish' it, the maker took some kind of plastic material with lizard print and added it to the sheath.

Here are two pics of the knife in its sheath. Later, I will post a pic of the knife itself.