A What is it ? any ideas.

[FenrisWolf]

Originally Posted by katana

Thankyou Wolviex,
the seller attributed this to Africa..... presumably because of the snake skin covered handle
Looks quite painful I was concerned the handle may have been a little thin for a serious weapon and began to think it might be ceremonial.
The 'spear' point looks capable of piercing armour, not certain what the curved point (on the opposite side) would be used for Obviously it is sharp ...but if it was used just for 'stabbing' blows then it could have been made straight

The first thing I thought when I saw it was that the finish was entirely too smooth and clean for typical African workmanship, where the rule of thumb seems to be "that's good enough to kill someone". That's not to say it might not have migrated through Africa on its way to its current home; the Brits brought a lot of Indians over to South Africa during colonial times, and the weapon might have travelled with them.