Tooray (Billao)
Somali / Darod / Ogaden
British Somaliland - Italian Somaliland (Somaliland) - Abyssinia (Northwestern Ethiopia)
Mid- 20th century (ca. 1940 - 1945)
Steel, wood, brass, leather, iron
Blade: 19,1cm
Hilt & Blade: 30,5cm
Hilt, Blade, Sheath: 31,1cm
Collection Date: 2020
Collection Number: 130

Ex. US Art Market (2020)

A variation of the billao dagger known as tooray. Used by the various Somali clans such as the Darod in Somaliland spanning into Northwestern Ethiopia. Related to the traditional Somali billao knives but with a slightly different hilt shape and sheath.

The blade is unsymmetrical, double- edged, made from sheet metal with ground down chamfered edges. Blackened on the central plane. Wooden carved hilt widening toward the rounded brass pommel. Brass ferrule engraved with "X" shaped designs. The tooled leather sheath in similiar motifs, having a leather belt loop on the reverse side. Decorated with two iron studs, two of which are now missing. Dating to around the World War II period, likely a G.I. bringback.

[1] https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-107118

[2] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1928-0509-27-a-b

[3] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1928-0509-41

[4] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1935-1108-48-a

[5] https://africanarms.com/gallery.html?somali-billao-with-scabbard-34-8-cm

[6] https://africanarms.com/gallery.html?somali-billao-dagger-31-1-cm

[7] http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=27673&highlight=tooray

[8] http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18201&highlight=tooray