Bassa Spear
Bassa Spear
Bassa - Mano - Dan - Vai - Loma or surrounding people
Bassa- land - Liberia - French Guinea (Guinea) - British Sierra Leone ( Sierra Leone) - Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Early 20th century (ca. 1900 - 1930)
Iron, wood, fur (African Leopard), leather
Blade: 23,1cm
Blade & Shaft: 79,4cm
Overall Length: 80cm
Collection Date: 2020
Collection Number: 142
Ex. Rick Stroud (RSWORD): Raleigh, North Carolina, USA (2020)
A West African Spear from the Bassa or neighboring people of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, or Ivory Coast. The iron blade is double- edged with a thickly raised squared medial ridge. The blade slightly widens at the center before slowly tapering to a point. Wooden shaft covered in three sections of fur from the African Leopard. The fur is held tightly in place by three leather wrapped segments. The spear ends in an iron butt spike. It still reatins its original leather sheath which is rere. It has a rounded top and leather fringe base.
An interesting West African spear that has seen a moderate amount of use as the middle segment where it is held has lost its fur and is mostly a darkened leather now. There was likely an iron spatulate counterweight attached originally with another leather binded section, but it has since been replaced with an iron spike. This was likely due to use and breakage and is an old repair. Also, the top of the leather sheath has a replaced section of leather to it that is also an old fit. These repairs infer that despite the damages, the owner cared enough to repair his spear rather than to replace it, showing the personal importance to this object. It was owned by an individual of a higher societal rank as the fur is from an African leopard rather than the spotted hyena. The African leopard is revered in this region as a sacred animal, and its talismanic symbolism can be found within the secret society cults, particularly the leopard secret society of Bassa- land and the outlying areas. It was historically affiliated with kidnappings, ritual killings, cannibalism, and the drinking of the victims blood granting the assembled members superhuman powers and enabling them to transform into a leopard.