Ngulu Sickle Sword
Ngombe / Doko / Ngala
Équateur District, Congo Free State - Équateur Province, Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Late 19th - Early 20th century (ca. 1895 - 1930)
Iron, wood, copper
Blade: 38,1cm
Hilt & Blade: 55,9cm
Hilt, Blade, Sheath: -cm
Collection Date: 2024
Collection Number: 418

A ceremonial sword called Ngulu from the Ngombe and surrounding neighbors of the Congo. They are often very eccentric in form and have been termed "execution swords" by some collectors in the past. Some early exploration accounts verify this, but they are used for ceremonial or symbolic purposes since the Congo Free State period.

Having a broad and flat iron blade sickle shaped at the tip, with three protrusions underneath. The blade has four very deep fullers on one side. Extensively engraved with linear decorations and cross-hatched incisions. Wooden hilt with the upper half bound in copper wire. The lower half with two ellipsoid sections and a domed pommel decorated in brass studs.

Photograph 9: Ngombe
Photograph 10: Ekonda Leader (Nkumu). Photograph by Lamote, C.

• “Beauté Fatale. 1992. “Armes d’ Afrique Centrale”. Pages 127,129: #152

• https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore-collections/base/Work/action/show/notice/365755-couteau/page/23/365755-couteau

• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1898-149

• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af-5098

• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1923-1116-9?_gl=1%2aib7h3z%2a_up%2aMQ..%2a_ga%2aMTEwMzA4NDI1OC4xNzE1NDY1MjQ2%2a_ga_08TLB9R8X1%2aMTcxNTQ2NTI0Ni4xLjAuMTcxNTQ2NTI0Ni4wLjAuMA..

• https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-134037

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• https://oriental-arms.com/product/big-size-ngombe-sickle-sword/

• http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=8200

• https://african-weapons.com/gallery?ngombe-doko-iboko-63-5-cm