Dagger in Sheath, Italaako
Hadza (Hatsa) / Umburru, Northern Tanzania
Iron, wood, brass
Late 19th / early 20th century

There are just a few examples of this obscure type of dagger that have been collected. The most similar is in the collection of the Etnografische Verzamelingen, Universiteit Gent, Belgium (GE.372): it has a fancy, waisted handle made of ivory, a raised section on the scabbard (threaded with leather) that sits between two wraps (leather and vegetal fiber), and an iron cylinder that holds the two pieces of the wood scabbard together at the bottom. There are two other examples with fewer similarities in the collections of the British Museum (Af1970,12.38) and Pitt Rivers Museum (1984.30.42.1 and .2). There is a fourth reportedly illustrated in Werther, Die mittlere Hochländer des Nördlichen Deutsch Ost-Afrika, 1898, p. 367. 

The handle of this example is decorated on the presentation side with handmade brass inlays, reminiscent of the workmanship of the Lotuko and Shilluk of South Sudan. Interestingly, the raised section of the scabbard is not pierced, indicating that it wasn't threaded, yet suggesting that this design element was important to the aesthetic of these daggers. The scabbard has an uneven patina in the two places where it was originally wrapped. 

12.25 in :: 31 cm

InventoryID #13-2793

SOLD