Detail of Antiquity Knife

(Needed to have a single picture of this knife. More pics here: [link])

Layaway is available for this item; please contact me for details! My layaway plans are quite generous, and I'm more than willing to work you to find a payment plan that works for your budget!

Please note that the price includes my original, significant cost for the spear tip itself, as well as other materials costs. This is absolutely a OOAK piece!

Materials: Genuine 19th century hand-forged African iron spear tip, male springbok horn, acrylic paint, recycled leather, zebra hide, zebra hair

Knife length: 15"

Sheath length: 12"

Description: I was wandering through a local antique shop a while back when I saw this gorgeous old spear tip; not at all museum quality, but obviously well-worn and well-storied. The booth was held by a local archaeology student making extra money dealing in antiquities, and between the information he gave me, and further research, the best guess is that it's from the 19th century and either of Zulu or Maasai origin.

Well, when I saw it, I knew I had to make it into a ritual knife! So I went about collecting just the right materials for it. The handle is a male springbok horn with a gorgeous curve to it, which I painted with a series of white dots against the rough, dark brown surface. The hilt is covered in leather from an old coat, and the sheath is made of the same. The bottom of the sheath is lined with a piece of heavy tooling leather; while the blade is no longer perfectly sharp it still has enough of an edge and weight that it needed something durable but flexible to rest on.

I also decorated the sheath with two pieces of genuine zebra hide from a taxidermist's scraps. The smaller piece has a tassel of zebra hair that I made stitched to it. The sheath may be worn with two generously-sized leather belt loops.

This is not a knife for hunting or other practical use, though due to the quality of the blade I cannot sell this to anyone under 18. However, I have created this piece with the specific intent of ritual use. The spear tip very likely shed blood at some point in its life, and I wanted to rebirth it in a way that gave honor to its past while also offering it a more peaceable future. there is a grand tradition throughout cultures worldwide of repurposing weaponry, including broken weapons. I'm most familiar with medieval European weaponry--a broken longsword, for example, could be reforged into a short sword or large dagger. Surely others have done the same in other places and other times. So I am choosing to follow in this tradition.

Price: $300

On Etsy: [link]