African Textile Tool Wooden Carved Fiber Comb with Forged Iron Spikes

This rare hand-carved African fiber comb was used for stripping coarse fibers from palm leaves and raffia for weaving. While often misidentified as a wool comb for separating strands of wool, the hand-forged iron spikes are not made for combing fine fibers but for shredding and tearing. The Royal Museum for Central Africa has these fiber-processing combs in their collection, which are described as rare because they were everyday working objects, not ceremonial pieces, so fewer survived.

The tapered hardwood handle has cross-hatched geometric patterns, burned and incised lines and segmented bands, all characteristic of Central African tools from the Congo Basin (Democratic Republic of Congo / Republic of Congo) and possibly from Gabon or Cameroon. Utilitarian tools like this one are not always tribe-specific, as similar designs were shared across neighboring cultures.

The eleven very sharp iron spikes (or teeth) with their uneven shaping and hammer marks were driven through a piece of hollowed cow bone that's secured to the wood handle with various sizes of hand-cut iron nails. The nails are riveted--beaten down--onto the other side to form irregular knobs. This construction is also characteristic of the Congo Basin and Cameroon / Gabon regions. It's rare for the mount to survive intact in this condition.

This African textile-working tool dates from the early to mid-twentieth century. It measures 12 inches in length, about 3/4 of an inch thick, 4 inches across the cow bone mount and weighs 10 ounces. The spikes stand 4 1/2 inches tall. Although heavily used (we cleaned off the dirt), it's in excellent condition with a handsome patina and no missing spikes, nails or pieces of wood. For collectors of African material cultural artifacts, this is a museum-worthy collector piece with strong visual appeal.

© PrimpingYourHome.com

PYH 5814