Detail Photos

For your consideration... an old Naga dao or war axe with a fine dao holder belt. This is a top notch combination... classic form throughout. The dao is very old indeed, and has a well worn iron blade, cane binding with a seal of resin, while the handle as a hole has gorgeous patina, accented with long dyed goat hair.

The belt is quite outstanding with a carved wooden dao support featuring primitively executed human figures, of a style we find on a number of Naga artistic mediums including textiles, wood carving, and tattoos. The belt itself is cloth, leather with cut cowries.

The dao is an ubiquitous tool among the Naga and that is as true today as it ever was. Dao are used for everything from heavy chopping while clearing forest to cutting bamboo for house construction to butchering animals and in the old days, for war and headhunting. The belt is worn with the wooden "holster" to the back with the handle of the dao running up parallel to the wearer's spine when the dao is stored in the holder. I've included plenty of detail photos here,  accessible by links below the main photo above. This is a really outstanding example of the dao and belt combo, and sets of this caliber are needless to say, becoming quite scarce. For collectors looking for superlative examples of Naga headhunter paraphernalia.... this is hard to beat.