Length: 39.000 cm (min.)
Length: 39.000 cm (min.)

Gift of the Trustees of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum

AOA 1954.+23.938, 940, 941, 942

Room 25: Africa

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Copper tribute blades

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Here are four examples of copper tribute blades - stylised versions of iron throwing knives made by the Nzakara and Ngbandi peoples. They come from the Azande Empire in southern Sudan and north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and are probably about 100 years old - though they still gleam and shine and show no signs of wear. The Azande made and used throwing knives as a ceremonial currency.

Each knife is forged from an ingot of copper and is a variation on the same stylised form: a long narrow shaft - about 35 centimetres in length - with a sharp spur branching out near the bottom and a crescent shaped blade at the top. In many ways the knives resemble a pressed flower: the shaft is the stem, the spur is a leaf on the stem and the blade curves like the petals. All the knives are pierced by occasional holes as though they might have been strung onto something.

The knives are shown here in a row. Starting on the far right, the first knife is the simplest. It has a narrow crescent blade embellished with a pattern of raised dots. Towards the bottom of the shaft, in place of a curving spur, three short horizontal strips of metal link the shaft with a small copper disc.

The next knife has a blade that is particularly broad. It is chased with a triangular pattern that widens towards the bottom. This knife has a curving spur, with a small ring directly below the spur where it meets the shaft.

The third knife is especially elaborate. Its blade is a tightly curved crescent with a spur branching off to the left of it. This spur then divides into two bands of metal that connect to a flat copper ring about the size of a bracelet. The outer edges of the ring, the blade, the upper section of the shaft and the lower spur are all decoratively notched.

The blade of the fourth knife also has an extra spur, arching away to the left. The shaft of this knife divides into two, and then into three strands of metal as it nears the blade.

The knives date from the late nineteenth century when metal was a very important and valuable commodity in Africa. Before minted coinage was introduced by European colonials, locally produced metal currency took the form of modified everyday objects such as hoe blades, arrowheads and throwing knives such as these.