Posted 9 years ago
tommann35
(4 items)
Picked this up at Brimfield MA antique market. Thought it might be whaling related but it also looks African or something?? If you know what it is please let me know at tom.mann@live.com. Thanks!
Primitive tool- Trying to figure out what it is? | ||
| Tools and Hardware6027 of 9815 |  |  |
i thought of a whale blubber knife when i first looked at it, but the case looks a LOT like the case to a very old machete / knife my parents own. it was brought back from the Congo in the 1930s by my father's uncle who was one of the White Robe Missionaries.
Are the blubber knives raised like this one? Also I was thinking it might have been two different things (head and base) at one time but that does not make a ton of sense. Thanks for responding!
It's a double flue harpoon. Blubber knives have a much broad edge and no points.
I figured it out from the clue from ho2cultcha-
http://mbabramgalleries.com/collections/tribal-antique/products/african-zirma-hoe-currency
A Zirma currency hoe, Niger, W. Africa. Hand forged from iron, and inlaid with brass and copper bands. Much of the shaft is decorated with incised designs, geometric figures, and other symbols. This would have been an important prestige item and object for exchange, far too valuable for use as an agricultural tool.
nice find...