A spear butt from Central Africa or Madagascar

Here we have one of the last of my larger spear blades and spear components. I purchased this item via eBay (no surprises there) from a seller who believed it to be a knife or weapon of some sort. Although it superficially resembles some of the edged weapons from central Africa, the presence of a socket indicates this is a spear component of some sort. It is most likely a spear butt (a generally socketed spike or iron object serving as a counterweight to a heavy point). Where it's from, I don't know. My guess would be central Africa or Madagascar. The socket is narrow and it would only be suitable for a light spear.

The object is light, thin and somewhat flexible. It is decorated with faint lines along the middle of the blade. The blade (not really a blade, but corresponding to a blade) is not completely flat, but only faintly lens-shaped in cross section. Spear butts aren't expected to do a great deal, so I guess quality isn't paramount. The edges of the blade are roughly parallel for most of their length; in the last inch or so the edges flare out, giving the butt a spade or spatulate appearance. The socket is crude but functional, with a small hole (punched, not drilled) for a pin or rivet.

Overall, the point is crude yet functional. The blade is rusted and pitted, but the rust is not the flaky, scaly rust found on pieces made from modern steel. The point shows a great deal of use and "experience". The flared-out tips of the blade are bent (they could be straightened out, but carefully to prevent breaking them off). This is a nice, old used item that would make a nice display, but it certainly ain't the greatest piece I have.

Length (overall): About 10".

Length (blades/points): About 7 1/2".

Length (other dimensions): Socket is about 2 1/2".

Width at widest point (blade/point): About 2 1/2" if bent tips were repaired.

Width (other dimensions): Socket is about 5/8" wide.

Materials: Probably scrap iron.

If it is in fact Malagasy, it's a rare and desirable piece. Similar spear butts can be seenhere, here, and here (each from the American Museum of Natural History archives). These butts are much finer, but similar to the present item. It it's from the Congo, the value would be considerably less.

An ornate processional spear from West Africa

This is an interesting item. It's a very basic socketed spear blade, at first appearance more closely resembling a cake server than a weapon. There's no edge per se (it's either deliberately blunted or unfinished), the barbing on the shank is shallow or possibly unfinished, and the socket is rough and fairly crude. The appearance of the piece is enhanced by extensive engraving on both faces of the blade. I believe this is a legitimate ceremonial or processional item, used as a mark of authority or for ritual purposes. It's from West Africa; I imagine it's from Mali or Burkina Faso. If it's from Mali, it might be Dogon. That's just a guess. The engraving vaguely resembles the decorative markings on a couple of West African arrow points in my collection. Unfortunately, I doubt the markings will be visible in the photos.

The spear head is heavy, with a rough, unfinished appearance. It's made from a single piece of steel drawn into a wide willow-leaf shape, with a short shank and a short, crude socket. A series of shallow barbs is present on alternating edges of the square-sectioned shank. Barbs were struck into the material with a chisel. The barbs are not deep and appear to have been filed down somewhat. There's no median ridge (the blade is essentially flat), and point is either blunted, unfinished or kept blunt intentionally.

Overall, the point is crude and heavy. Several forging flaws. Some patina and minimal rust is evident. The tip is bent, but otherwise the point appears unused.

Length (overall): About 13 1/2" overall.

Length (blades/points): About 8".

Length (other dimensions): Shank is about 3". Socket is about 2 1/4".

Width at widest point (blade/point): About 2".

Width (other dimensions): Socket is 1" wide.

Materials: Probably scrap iron.

I have a few other Western Sahel pieces (mostly arrow points). Will be describing them at some point. This piece deserves more attention, so I'll probably revisit it before too long.

eBay updates

Didn't do as well as I'd hoped to...

I ended up winning three knives: A WWI era Gurkha kukri knife from Nepal, a contemporary Tuareg dagger, and an interesting handmade WWII theater knife. Prices ended up being on the lower side, which is a good thing. I may end up selling the WWII knife and possibly the kukri - I'll have to see how it compares to my other kukri.

I was outbid on these items (I am proving a link to the completed auctions; I'm not sure how long they will be available):

1. A unique spearhead from Tanzania with an interesting socket (appears to be made from a coil of steel). Sold for $34. I lowered my bid to $25 because I wasn't terribly impressed with it.
2. Another Central African harpoon, with a more elongated shape. Work was a little rough. Sold for $47. I was the second highest bidder on this one.
3. A sturdy Ethiopian spear head from the Danakil Depression. Similar to this one, but more robust and less ornate. Sold for about $150, which I imagine is probably about what it's worth.
4. A Central African Tetela spear blade. An old, used piece, but still very nice and with a striking configuration. Sold for $55.
5. Another Yakoma spear from Central Africa. Sold for about $200.
6. Another Mossi spear from Burkina Faso. Blade's been bent and repaired. Sold for a very high $80.
7. A Filipino dagger from the early 20th century. Nice configuration, with a restored pommel. Sold for a reasonable $45.
8. A Finnish puukko knife with a damaged sheath. Knife itself is in great shape. Sold for $40.
9. A Gurkha kukri knife similar to the one I purchased. Sold for $55.
10. Another kukri, plainer but better constructed than the first. Sold for $65.
11. A third kukri, a British Mark 1 used in WWI. Sold for a very high $330. One of the most collectible kukris.
12. Lastly, someone beat me to this Central African (Mongo?) arrow.

A delicate fish spear from Thailand

Here's a description of the first of my spearheads designed explicitly for fishing. I bought it from an eBay seller who indicated it was from Vietnam. I assumed this was the case for years, but while rummaging through my collection recently I took a closer look at the object. There's definitely a couple of characters in Thai script on the upper part of the tang (may be visible in the photo below).

These spears with numerous barbed tines arranged radially appear to be widespread across Southeast Asia and Oceania. Many (but not all) tribal fish spears have tines arranged in a circle around a central point, much like modern paralyzer points for underwater spearfishing. They work quite well, and are possibly easier to manufacture than some of the conventionally trident-type fishing spears from Europe and the western hemisphere. At their most rudimentary, such spears consist of a handful of stiff wires shoved into the reinforced end of a bamboo shaft (as in the omnipresent fish spears from Australia and the Pacific).

The item is very solidly constructed and vibrates like a tuning fork when struck. The spearhead is made from quality steel tines brazed (I assume it's brazed - the welding material is copper colored) to a square-sectioned steel tang. The barbs are crisp and neatly filed into the wires. The barbs aren't simply struck into the material with a chisel, as you see on contemporary pronged fish spears - they're expertly filed into the slightly flattened ends of the prongs. As you can see from the pictures, the prongs angle out from the base for about half their length, then end up roughly parallel to each other. The base is filed into a sleek, graceful shape and finished with a rounded shoulder.

The tang is long, with a mostly round cross-section. At the base, the tang tapers to a sharp, 4 sided point. The material is twisted 2 times, perhaps to aid screwing the tang into a bamboo shaft. The point includes a small, conical bronze-colored ferrule to slip over the end of the shaft to prevent splitting. This seems to be a common feature in Asian spears: Rather than reinforcing the shaft's socket with leather or wirework, many Asian spears (including southern Filipino budiaks and northern Filipino falfeg-type spears [and presumably continental Southeast Asian spears, but I'm not too familiar with them] incorporate metallic caps or ferrules to reinforce the shaft).

Overall, the point delicate and surprisingly graceful. The tines are made from very springy, resilient steel. I occasionally fish with hand-thrown spears, and bent tines are a constant issue - the tines on this spear are probably more likely to break than bend (which is not necessarily a positive quality), but if so, rarely. The item is not used and plenty of filework is still evident.

The item is in very good shape. Superficially, the object appears unused, with minimal patina from handling and loads of bare metal from manufacture. I suspect this was produced within the past 10-15 years by a fairly large-scale artisinal blacksmith for local use. I imagine these points are in demand by farmers seeking to add protein to their starch-heavy diet. Rice paddies are full of shrimps, small fishes and eels, and amphibians (all ideal quarry for such a light fish spear). These points would be ideal for opportunistic non-commercial spearfishing.

Length (overall): About 11 1/2" overall.

Length (blades/points): About 5 3/4" from tip of points to base.

Length (other dimensions): Tang is about 4 1/2".

Width at widest point (blade/point): Tines are about 2" across at the widest point.

Width (other dimensions): Base (section between base of points and beginning of tang) is about 1 1/4"

Materials: Spring steel (maybe heavy piano wire?).

My Thai collection is pretty limited (exactly one other item, a Vietnam-era daab sword). More on that later...

A word about eBay

I'm admitting I'm behind the curve here. I became familiar with eBay fairly early, but I did not become a serious eBayer until recently. I started selling books back in 2003 and have been selling progressively more in the interim. I think my first purchase was in fall 2002 - it might have been a lot of old youth bows and a workshop-made crossbow. Right now I purchase two or three items a month via eBay.

I've cut back lately. I don't pay for items with my checking account. Most of the time, I can make enough cash selling books and objects to place reasonable bids on many items. I've found it also helps to limit searching. I used to make several searches once a day (which even then would not find every item I'm interested in); I currently watch a couple of seller's items and occasionally search my saved seller's items.

My big, secret strategy for winning...I place several low bids on lots of items. I lose most of my auctions, but when I win them the price is right. If I end up winning more items than I'd expected or can afford, I sell the surplus (often for more than I paid for them). I don't bid on auctions manually (unless I'm away from my laptop and I have to bid with my phone). Instead, I use a sniping service to bid within the final 8 seconds of an auction. It pays to take advantage of best offer and buy it now options if possible.

I'm bidding on a whole bunch of knives, spears and arrows tonight and will report on the outcomes shortly.

A hinalung knife/spear from the Philippines

I paid very little for this old Northern Filipino ("Igorot") knife/spear blade a few months ago. The item was poorly described and the pictures were terrible, and I was not particularly surprised when I opened the package and discovered a blade in very poor shape. Still, it's an older piece and one made for use, so it was worthwhile. This is an example of a peculiar necktie-shaped spear blade, known as a hinalung, that doubles as a knife. Although any spear blade could conceivably double as a knife, these are designed to serve as both utilitarian knife and hunting weapon.

The hinalung is strongly influenced by the socketed Filipino spears known as budiaks or budjaks. Originally a permanently-mounted spear blade (and originally much slimmer in shape), the hinalung would have been an effective hunting/martial weapon. At some point, possibly during the American occupation during the early 20th century, the Igorots turned the hinalung into a dual use weapon to circumvent weapons laws. (See the essay "Hinalung & Pinahig: Weapon-Tools of the Igorot" on the excellent website Mediaeval Sword Resource Site for more & better information.) The blades were kept in open wood scabbards, similar to those used throughout Indonesia and on into Taiwan. The weapon suffers from the compromises needed to create a dual-use weapon - it's stubby, unwieldy, and not particularly comfortable to hold.

Overall, the point is short and wide (i. e., stubby). The item is forged from one piece of steel, probably recycled from an old automobile leaf spring or similar. The blade is ovoid in cross-section with evidence of repeated sharpening. The socket/handle is bound with several bands of woven rattan, each about 1/3" wide.

The item is in very poor shape. Superficially, the blade appears well-used, with an even dark, dusty patina, light rust, and pitting. At least 1/2" is broken off the tip, and the left-hand edge (when viewed from the side with the seam) is chipped in several places. The rattan rings are grimy from use.

I suspect this is a WWII era piece. I believe most Filipino artifacts date from 3 eras: the Spanish-American War/Philippine Insurrection period (1890-1910 or so, see "Uncle Sam, The Moros, and the Moro Campaigns" for more info), during or shortly after WWII (1940-1950), and the Vietnam era (1965-1975 or so), when GIs were stationed in the Philippines. I doubt this hinalung is particularly old, but it's well made overall and was not made for sale to tourists.

Length (overall): About 11 1/2". Would have been about 12" if complete.

Length (blades/points): About 6" from tip of blade to base of hilt.

Length (other dimensions): Handle/socket is about 5".

Width at widest point (blade/point): About 2" across at the widest point.

Width (other dimensions): Handle/socket is about 1" in diameter.

Materials: Recycled steel.

A nice addition to my small Filipino collection, which also includes several talibong-type knives, a bow, and a few arrows. I also have a contemporary tourist-art Filipino crossbow I am attempting to sell.

Auctions

Here are a few eBay auctions I watched (and unsuccessfully bid on) this weekend. I was outbid on each of them. I did pick up an old, used Papuan cooking utensil made with a coconut shell. I will describe that within the next few weeks.

A Kikuyu spear collected by Quaker missionaries in the 1920s. In perfect condition with a light-colored wood shaft. Sold for about $120.

A massive spear from the Sudan. In very good condition, including brass wire wrap near butt. Shaft is a little warped near butt. Sold for about $150. Shipping would have been prohibitively expensive.

A nice Ngbandi spear from the northern Congo. In excellent condition, with a nice blade and plenty of wire wrapping. I purchased a similar item from the same seller. The one I purchased (and thus, was able to afford) is missing a section of the butt. This complete spear sold for $78, which is not much more than I paid for mine.

A large Zulu assegai or iklwa from South Africa. Point is bound with leather. Appears complete. Sold for $175.

A Yakoma spear from the Congo. An interesting, very light-weight status symbol-type spear. Sold for $121.

A Ngbandi spear head. A strange, thin point with strong barbs; probably part of a status symbol-type spear like #5. It would have made a deadly thrown spear, however. Sold for about $50.

A Somali spear head. Small and light, with a decorative element at base of blade. Similar to the point i described here. Sold for $39.

A spear head from the Congo. Rather crudely made, with a very large barb. A functional hunting weapon. Sold for $40.

An interesting spear head from Uganda. Solidly built and finely made, with two fullers like the Ethiopian points I described here and here. Sold for $40.

A Mossi spear head from Burkina Faso, West Africa. Nicely made for a West African piece, with a long shank and a narrow, willow-leaf shaped blade. Sold for $43.

An arrow point from the Congo. Appears quite old, and is nicely decorated with filed and chiseled elements. 5" overall. Crisp, symmetrical form. Recalls some of the points from the northern Philippines. Has an excellent patina. Sold for a pretty ridiculous $100, at least 2 or 3 times what it's actually worth.

A harpoon point from the Congo. A very graceful, delicate form with very strong barbs. Of a different form than the Congolese harpoon I have in my collection. Retains some of the vegetable fiber cord. Sold for $82.

A very nice Malagasy spear head and butt. Shape of point recalls shape of Sudanese spear (#2). A solid, functional piece with decorative brass inserts.

Kind of a discouraging lot of auctions, but maybe I'll have better luck next time. I would rather be surprised with a good deal on a good piece than have to pay what an item is actually worth (or more than it's worth.)