knife (general & multipurpose); sheath (general & multipurpose)

Knife with an iron blade and a wooden handle, in a wooden sheath. The blade has a raised ridge down the middle. The handle and sheath are both carved with a raised diamond design, and are similar so that when the knife is sheathed it forms an almost symmetrical object. The sheath is made in two halves of different-coloured wood, which are bound together with copper wire. At the top of the sheath, where the blade fits in, is a small raised section of wood with a hole through it. The knife was made by a smith ('mhangura').

The object has a rectangular, beige label with it, written on in pencil.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk