Halberd Axe Help

T

thimble farm

Joined
Jun 26, 2023
Messages
35
Hello: I am new to the forum and would appreciate any comments on this halberd style tomahawk/axe.

It is dated June 1910, awarded to a Improved Order of Red Men member. As a tomahawk collector, I have never seen an IORM axe in this form before, which resembles a halberd tomahawk. I was told by the IORM museum that the origin of the axe is a mystery and not an IORM piece.

The axe is nickel plated which is peeling off due to age and appears to be sheet iron underneath. Looks forged. The sheet iron is 1/8 inch thick. Overall the axe is 15 inches, 7.5 inches from blade to hook and 5 1/8 inches wide blade.

Thanks for any comments
 
thimble farm said:
Hello: I am new to the forum and would appreciate any comments on this halberd style tomahawk/axe.

It is dated June 1910, awarded to a Improved Order of Red Men member. As a tomahawk collector, I have never seen an IORM axe in this form before, which resembles a halberd tomahawk. I was told by the IORM museum that the origin of the axe is a mystery and not an IORM piece.

The axe is nickel plated which is peeling off due to age and appears to be sheet iron underneath. Looks forged. The sheet iron is 1/8 inch thick. Overall the axe is 15 inches, 7.5 inches from blade to hook and 5 1/8 inches wide blade.

Thanks for any comments
Click to expand...

How do I post pictures from a.....

Whatever kind of device you have? There may be an app for that. Look for a picture/file sharing host. Prefreably one that is NOT porn related. You can use imgur.com, flickr, or any others. There are tutorials online on the "How To" part, search for it. In the mean time, searching here for...
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thimble farm said:
C:\Users\elits\Documents\schaffer.jpg

C:\Users\elits\Documents\Schaffer 2.jpg
Click to expand...
That's the location on your personal hard drive where the photo is stored...is this your axe? Saw it on another forum. It looks to be a throwing axe, maybe a one off or factory made for a circus, vaudeville or other act.
schaffer.jpg
 
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Here's a vintage banner with an axe throwing act depicted. Note the point at the top of the axes to make a stick easier. The nickel plating would be easy to shine up and draw the eyes of an audience and the engraving could have been done lots of places. A neat item.
image_2023-06-27_053914954.png
 
Thanks. interesting image. those are certainly halberd style tomahawks. Mine weights 14.4 oz overall and resembles the shape of a hurlbat. But mine is not sharpened, which leads me to believe that it was strictly for presentation/ceremonial purposes. I saw a couple of images online of old, all metal sheet iron trade tomahawks in similar form and almost identical dimensions. I'm curious whether the tomahawk is older than 1910, since it was not made by IORM. It is my understanding that sometimes older tomahawks were used by them. My tomahawk came from the Harrisburg PA area.
 
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