Large Antique Throwing Knife From Chad. Sara, Joalland-meynier Mission

This throwing knife originates from Chad. It is formally identified as coming from the Sara ethnic group, who live in the Middle Shari region along the Chari/Shari River in the Korbol region, southeast of Lake Chad. It should not be confused with neighboring models from the Kotoko, or the Bagirmi, who live much further north.
This throwing knife is obviously old, and would have been collected at the time of the Voulet-Chanoine mission of sinister memory, or more probably the Joalland-Meynier mission which immediately followed it in the conquest of the country (1899-1900).
This type of knife is intended to be thrown either for hunting or in war, during which its vertical bell-shaped flight allows it to reach an opponent protected behind an obstacle or a shield. The weapon is large. It consists of a curved main blade, with six sides obtained by hammering, and sharply sharpened. On the outer central face there is a decoration made of 25 deep square punch marks. At the base of this main blade there is the secondary blade sharpened on one side and which ends in a small ring which allowed to attach a link intended for carrying the weapon on the shoulder. The lower part of the weapon is sharpened on the convex side where its edge extends that of the main blade, and flat on the concave side, in order to allow safe carrying and also to allow firm support of the thumb when throwing. Finally, the handle with the original braiding is present. It is very rare that these original braided protections are still present on this type of throwing knife.
Beautiful ethnic object of indisputable authenticity.
Ref 4Y-00XX Shipping costs France 20€, Europe 30€