ALMOST SURELY ONE OF THE ORIGINAL ASSEGAIS COMMISSIONED BY SHAKA! EXTRAORDINARY ZULU ASSEGAI C.1820s

Thrusting form, revolutionary at the time, 47 1/2” The leaf shaped iron head of less defined form than the later examples and absent the double indents where the point meets the bolster invariably found on later examples. Most important of all, the head is forged from two pieces with a forged joint evident each side. One of the fundamental steps to power of the Zulu army was the conversion at Shaka’s directive, of the light throwing spears to thrusting spears by combining two heads into one by forging. This is just the second example on which we have seen that feature. Long seamless hide socket. The haft with carved triple rings above the elongated bottle form grip. That feature again is unique in our experience. The haft is dry and lightly encrusted, while typical examples are smooth and glossy, with an opened shrink crack to the grip. Some white “manor house” paint spatter to the point. Short of a recorded provenance, you could not find an example which better accords with original assegais produced on Shaka’s order!