Hello,
I recently obtained a set of 11 arrows. I have not been able to identify where they might be from or when they might have been made. I will do my best to describe them, but I will email photos if requested.
They are very long (81 cm base of point-bottom of nock). They are all split hardwood or conifer wood, maybe POC, darkish-red colored, very straight despite age; I guess they might be dowels. There doesn't appear to be any finish on them. There is no cresting. They are uniform diameter (parallel), about 0.8 cm, but I have not measured each one. There might be some variation. The points are all cow horn (I think), about 4.25 cm long. All have 3 radial fletchings about 9 cm long. They look like typical commercial fletchings, but they are so old I can't tell how they're cut. The self-nocks are simply cut into the wood.
I would have guessed they're commercially made target arrows, but at 32" I'd say they're a bit to long for that! With the horn points Turkish flight arrows would be an alternative theory, but they're still too long and too crudely made. The person I bought them from thought they were originally obtained in the 1950s from a secondhand shop, but she wasn't sure of their origin.
My current hypothesis is that they were made in someone's woodshop, maybe for a beginning archer. The horn points are still a mystery, though!
Thank you for your help,
Nathan
