19th / 20th Century Sudanese Arm Dagger

Bought this cheap and looking to sell as it doesn’t have much of a place in my collection.
The sheath is believed to be camel leather and the hand and pommel are wooden. The pommel also has a small skull crusher at the end. The knife is in good condition overall other than that the blade is rusty and doesn’t fit all the way into the sheath. I have never attempted to clean it so it’s more than likely that it will clean up well. The blade has some small chinks in it, but look minor. A photo tells a thousand words so make sure to study them closely.

I’m no arms expert so I’m unsure of any specific issues with the knife, if you want to know anything I’d be happy to help.

I’m interested in any offers, just message me and I’ll respond as soon as I can. Thanks for looking

 

Much better photos, thanks. I’m no knife expert either but I’d lean toward this being a tourist souvenir item rather than something made for use in Sudan. It doesn’t show much age and the fact that the blade is two-tone I take as a more modern thing. Pretty much all the older blades I see from third-world countries are all bare steel. Fact that sheath doesn’t fit well may mean leather shrank after sheath was made, maybe a sign of maker being in a hurry. But then again I’m not well-qualified in this specific area.

 

it's possible the dagger had a different original sheath...
they usually fit the knife to the sheath...

 

Great job re-posting!!!!

 

Thanks, way better now.

I think I agree spring, this isn’t a high quality knife, the patina isn’t there on the hands either. . But in Sudan these Arm daggers are actually still in use, they are much more cheaply made though nowadays. They are used by the military still too. But it’s more of a nod to tradition than through practicality as I don’t believe they are worn on the arm now.

@komokwa Are those your knives? They have the more tradition and more accentuated curve to the handle shape that I’ve seen. I have another arm dagger that I’m keeping I’ll attach. Silver embellishments and a snakeskin sheath. Still has its blemishes but much nicer.

 

No Nathan, I pulled em off the web, just to compare similar models.
A lot of ethnic knives show up without sheaths....and the ones in their original sheaths usually fit like a glove.