Lot: 422

87th Tribal Art Auction

Chieftain's knife

D. R. Congo, Lobala

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
H: 22 inch This object is not available anymore.

metal, engravings on both sides of the blade, wooden handle wrapped with brass straps, slight traces of corrosion, base.
Based on elaborate engravings on the blade and the abundant windings on the handle it can be said that the knife was definitely not used as a weapon despite its shapened cutting edge but rather as a chieftain's insignia or a symbol of rank.


Fischer, Werner & Manfred A. Zirngibl, Afrikanische Waffen, Passau 1978, p. 115, ill. 201