Axe question for Whut Izzit

bernard_levine

bernard_levine

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This picture just arrived for my Whut Izzit column in Knife World magazine. The axe came from an estate sale in Virginia. The owner has some ideas of its provenance, but I'd like to start with a blank page. The inlays appear to be copper. WHUT IZZIT?

ax-williams-10-13-03.jpg


BRL...
 
BRL,

Do you have any other photos? And, can you tell us how this thing is mounted?

n2s
 
No and no. This is all I've got. If you have specific questions that will help in the ID, tell me what they are, and I will pass them along to the owner of the axe.

I'm not looking for guesses. I've got plenty of those already.

BRL...
 
This must be the week for this style of axe. I just got these pictures today, of another axe. The blade is decorated by piercing, rather than by punching. The spear blade seems to be inside the bottom of the handle. By its construction (feeble) I have a pretty good idea of where it's from -- but I wonder if the first axe is from the same source? Also the age of each...

BRL...

axe2.jpg


axe1.jpg


axe3.jpg
 
This is kinda dumb, but could it be a Ciupaga. The Polish walking stick, and axe combo.

The second model reminded me of them.

Another thing that puzzles me, is that I've seen the that same type of decoration(on the pole/axe shaft) on some Asian swagger sticks.
 
This is kinda dumb, but could it be a Ciupaga. The Polish walking stick, and axe combo.
Click to expand...

Here is a photo of a typical Ciupaga for comparison.

Pre1920iceaxewalkingstick.jpg


n2s
 
Well, in a blinding fit of inspiration, I followed the 'tomahawk' link on my own links page, which put me in touch with Mr. Tim D. Smith, a paragon of good information, and good humor.

He says, both of these axe heads are from Afghanistan... "circa 1850-1930. The double flaired blade with the faceted poll combined with the three copper/brass inlays is for the most part purely an Afghani configuration. Literally hundreds of these have been imported to the US and sold on ebay by enchanted-treasures auctions out of Santa Fe NM They are mildly interesting as they may have been made to be used as and actually seen use as weapons at some point unlike the slightly later, strictly decorative Indian Tabars...."

BRL...
 
Cool- My mom picked up a couple of those in Pakastan before I was born. They really fuled my blade obsession. Its nice to know a little history on them.
 
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