WEST AFRICAN SLAVER'S SWORD

Mid 19th century probably Ashanti. Made from a trade machete with 21" slightly curved triple fullered blade, unmarked. The original grips replaced with native worked ivory secured with two rivets. A center hole for a wrist thong. Blade shows dark patina with medium pitting and some raised rust. The grips with very dark patina, minor bruises and surface encruststion. The Ashanti traded slaves and ivory with the English and Portuguese. This machete would have been traded and the custom grips added by the owner. It is ideally suited for slave raiding where the hacking blow in close quarters is used to kill the unmarketable and defend the attacker. The extremely heavy ivory hilt was probably used as a bludgeon to immobilize and capture saleable victims.