Description (Physical description)
Knife of very elaborate form, with beaked and perforated blade, ornamented with incised decoration, set in wooden handle bound in brass sheet and brass wire.
Event Date
Author: maa

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Description (Physical description)
Catalogue description for Z 20435 (transferred from deleted record): 'Knife of very elaborate form, with beaked and perforated blade, ornamented with incised decoration, set in wooden handle bound in brass sheet and brass wire.'
Event Date
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Acquisition Details)
Previously entered in Accessions Register as 1885.50, but crossed out and replaced with a Fante knife.
Accession Register 1884: p.4, entry dated October 1884: ‘Missile weapon (iron ornamented with copper) the form of which is supposed to have been derived from a bird’s head. Blade, length 15 1/4 “ breadth 5 1/8”, from blade to end of handle 9”: weight 29 1/2 oz.’ ‘Fanti’. ‘Baron A. v. Hügel.’ ‘Bought in London’ ‘1885.50’.

Event Date 10/1884
Author: Mark Elliott

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Description (Physical description)
Museum Accessions Book 1883-93: '1887.64 (9) A bird-shaped missile. Fanti. *The Curator.'
Event Date 1887
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Acquisition Details)
Annual Report: Appendix (List of Accessions 30/09/1886-31/10/1887): '64. Three carved combs, Congo River; two carved leaf-shaped paddles, Gulf of Benin; a short club tapering both ends with a number of shallow grooves cut along it, West Coast; two battle axes. Lake Tanganyka; a bird-shaped missile, Fanti; an ivory ring on a bamboo loop, given as a sign of bravery to Unyamwezi warriors; and a pillow. Zululand. *The Curator. [11 specimens.]'
Event Date 18/11/1887
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Acquisition Details)
Annual Report notes for items under 1887.64 'In those cases in which the objects have not been presented directly, but have been purchased with money subscribed to the Museum Accession Fund, an asterisk is prefixed to the name of the donor'.
Event Date 18/11/1887
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Acquisition Details)
Purchased with money subscribed to the Museum Purchase Fund, and donated by The Curator, Baron Anatole von Hügel, 1887.
22 3 1887
Event Date 22/3/1887
Author: Mark Elliott

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Description (Physical description)
Found unnumbered in the museum during reorganisation in 1976/1977 and re-entered in the Accession Register (Accessions Z4) as Z 20435:
‘Z 20435. Very elaborate knife, beaked blade, brass-bound haft. W. Africa. No provenance, Fang. See Z 19906.’
Event Date 1977
Author: Mark Elliott

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Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card for Z 20435:
‘Z 20435 W. Africa No provenance Fang
‘Knife of very elaborate form, with beaked and perforated blade, ornamented with incised decoration, set in wooden handle bound in brass sheet and brass wire. Assumed to be product of Fang tribe due to resemblance to 1903.E.389 (Fang, Chad) and, more especially, to Z 19906 (Fang, Gabon)’
Event Date 1977
Author: Mark Elliott

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Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card continues in different handwriting: '(?) A bird shaped missile'.

Event Date 22/3/2000
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (CMS Context)
Card reads "No provenance"
Assumed to be product of Fang tribe due to the resemblance to E 1903.389 (Fang; Chad) and especially to Z 19906 (Fang; Gabon)
Pen drawing on card.
Event Date 28/3/2000
Author: maa

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Context (Amendments / updates)
The object Z 20435 was processed as part of the Stores Move project on 4 November 2021. It matches the description of 1887.64.9, which was previously recorded as missing, and has therefore been matched with that number. The record for Z 20435 has been deleted and consolidated with this one.
Event Date 25/7/2022
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Amendments / updates)
The Cultural Group field previously recorded 'Fante [Fanti]'. However this is thought to be a misattribution resulting from the confusion between this object and 1885.50, a Fante knife from Ghana, when it first entered the museum. This kind of object is associated with the Fang people of Gabon, and the Cultural Group field has been updated accordingly.
Event Date 25/7/2022
Author: Mark Elliott

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Description (Physical description)
Onzil. Throwing knife with head modelled after a hornbill bird. Beaked iron blade perforated with a triangular hole and ornamented with incised decoration and a single prong, bound in brass, jutting from the shaft. Set in wooden handle bound in brass sheet and brass wire. Brass sheet detached but present.
Event Date 25/7/2022
Author: Mark Elliott

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Exhibition (Spotlight Gallery)
EXH.2022.11 | Spotlight on Stores Move
Event Date 25/7/2022
Author: Katrina Dring

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Context (Display)
Displayed as part of the Spotlight on Stores Move exhibition. Caption provided by Mark Elliott: 'Misplaced identities. Identity, history and value are fragile things. This onzil, or throwing knife, was the first West African object entered into the Museum’s registers, in 1885. It has since been crossed out, replaced, re-entered, lost, found and found again. Why has it had such a troubled journey? We still don’t know.'
Event Date 4/2023
Author: Katrina Dring