The blade of this iron knife had three subdivisions: one branches off above the wooden haft, while the other two are placed at the other end of the blade.//Throwing knives produced by the Zande, living in the north-east of the Congo region and in southern Sudan, have a unique form. Warriors took several of these knives into battle, fastened to, or behind, the leather belts on the back of the warrior’s shield. Experienced warriors were able to hit their targets with amazing precision over long distances. The Dutch explorer Juan Maria Schuver, travelling in the southern Sudan between 1881 and 1883, collected the throwing knife shown here. We know nothing about the background to this acquisition, since Schuver unfortunately did not always make notes on the objects he collected. Zande soldiers served as conscripts, both in the regular army and in private armies. Schuver may have acquired his knives directly via this source, or he may have found them being sold as weapons in the Khartoum market. At the same time we cannot exclude the possibility that Schuver obtained the knife, or purchased it, from Carlo Piaggia. This Italian explorer had visited the region inhabited by the Zande (who include the Adio) in Gondokoro, in southern Sudan, and Schuver met him.