Dagger with Layered Handle
Tigrinya / Tigrayan, Eritrea
Iron, horn, copper, brass
Late 19th / early 20th century

The most valuable knives collected during the Eritrea Mission organized by the Italian Ministry of Education in 1905-06 were elaborate daggers such as this, with complex handles made of layered materials. That mission described these daggers as “belonging to the ceremonial apparatus connected to the war” ("Blades of the Horn of Africa," Museum of Cutting Tools of Scarperia, 2016). 

Eritrea has a population of approximately five million, who are primarily Muslim. Ethnically, there are nine major groups, the largest of which are the Tigrinya (50%), the Tigre / Kunhama (40%), the Afar (4%), and the Saho (3%) (Tirri, Islamic and Native Weapons of Colonial Africa, 2007).  

25 in :: 63.5 cm

InventoryID #13-2518

Not For Sale