Throwing Knife, moko-ndo
Ngbaka Mabo, Central African Republic/D.R. Congo
Forged iron, vegetable fiber
After 1965

Mabo knives of this type - with crude workmanship and composed of recycled scrap iron - were the result of the Chadian Civil War (1965-79). Blacksmiths from Chad fled to the Central African Republic and sought refuge in towns such as Baibokoum, Bocaranga, and Bossangoa. Remaining faithful to their old profession (knowing no other way to make a living), they manufactured knife types from their homeland, and they began making the Mabo throwing knives indigenous to their new home.

Mabo throwing knives, collectively known as ndo had been used as weapons of war, prestige objects, and currency blades. As reported by Poutrin (1910), no Ngbaka Mabo man had ever left his village without carrying his spears and throwing knife, even in times of peace.

Their importance as missiles seems to have been rather small; when used in battle, they functioned mainly as handweapons. Their role as tokens of dignity and badges of office seems to have prevailed over any martial role. In the hands of lineage heads, hunting chiefs, and religious specialists, they functioned as signs of authority and rank. Leaders of an antiwitchcraft cult, the so-called wama, carried examples of this type during part of their ceremonies (Westerdijk, The African Throwing Knife, 1988).

14.5 in :: 37 cm

InventoryID #13-599

SOLD