Group of small African knives for comments

[Sajen]

With a little bit of cultural empathy one could imagine for which use an utility knife like four of the knives in question were used and for what. We speak about Congo knives, tropical climate! You have to make your own tools when you live rural, for nearly everything you need a knife, cutting plants you want to use and eat, animals you have hunted need to get skinned, later you need to cut the meat, in a rural kitchen there will be a knife always nearby.

Three other knives are clearly daggers, for what you need a dagger??

The other four ones, because they have the human shape, could also be ritual knives, when I look at the blades they were in long time use. Cutting the umbilical cord maybe? For the first hair cut?

There are numerous possibilities! But look simply at the patination of the wood, the condition of the blades before you tell another person who has paid good money plus shipping for them that these knives are tourist stuff and therefore worthless. Everybody who should be able to read patination will agree with me, that this is a very beautiful collection of minimum old Congolese ethnographic knives.

Sorry, when you felt attacked, this wasn't my aim. But after you have shown in another thread your very nice gile I was sure that you are able to read patination. And I really can not understand how someone can compare for example the both pictured handles and find them similar regarding quality, age, patination and so on.

Regards,
Detlef

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Sajen

With a little bit of cultural empathy one could imagine for which use an utility knife like four of the knives in question were used and for what. We speak about Congo knives, tropical climate! You have to make your own tools when you live rural, for nearly everything you need a knife, cutting plants you want to use and eat, animals you have hunted need to get skinned, later you need to cut the meat, in a rural kitchen there will be a knife always nearby.

Three other knives are clearly daggers, for what you need a dagger??

The other four ones, because they have the human shape, could also be ritual knives, when I look at the blades they were in long time use. Cutting the umbilical cord maybe? For the first hair cut?

There are numerous possibilities! But look simply at the patination of the wood, the condition of the blades before you tell another person who has paid good money plus shipping for them that these knives are tourist stuff and therefore worthless. Everybody who should be able to read patination will agree with me, that this is a very beautiful collection of minimum old Congolese ethnographic knives.

Sorry, when you felt attacked, this wasn't my aim. But after you have shown in another thread your very nice gile I was sure that you are able to read patination. And I really can not understand how someone can compare for example the both pictured handles and find them similar regarding quality, age, patination and so on.

Regards,
Detlef

Detlef I didn’t feel attacked at all, we gathered here on the forum to exchange our thoughts, experiences and observations.

I really love African weapons, but there are many items that should be classified as ethnographic objects, and not weapons. Unfortunately, there are many fakes and tourist items.

As for patina, I repeat that in the African climate it appears very quickly. When I bought my items, there were similar ones nearby, but rusty and with cracked handles. To understand this, you need to visit Africa at least once.
As for the tool, it should be convenient and functional. If you work with a tool with such a handle, your hand will quickly get tired.

I don't want to say anything about auction houses, but there is always the possibility of error.

In 1978, Werner Fischer and the late Manfred Zirngibl published Afrikanische Waffen ("African Weapons"), the cover depicting four elegant blades, among which stands out an impressive prestige knife with an ivory handle with radical ridges and intricate cuts in the shape.

Fischer and Zirngibl attributed the blade to the Zande Idio.

But then it turned out that Zirngibl hired a blacksmith by profession Hebeisen, who made counterfeits of African knives in Austria. These fakes have been sold for tens of thousands of dollars at famous auctions for decades.

Regards, Yuri