FEATURE
administration, hired him in 1976 to manufacture
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replicas of African knives in Austria, and
that he had been doing this work for decades.
On November 18, 2015, Miersch traveled to
meet the eighty-three-year-old Hebeisen in the
tiny town of Wernstein am Inn on the Austrian
side of the Austria/Germany border, only eight km
away from Zirngibl’s hometown of Passau. A series
of conversations with Hebeisen conducted by
Miersch furnished the basis of much of the material
presented herein. The interviews began in November
2015 and continue to this day. In 2016,
Ingo Barlovic, a member of the editorial staff of
the German magazine Kunst & Kontext, also
paid a visit to Hebeisen in Wernstein. Barlovic
published an article about his interviews with Hebeisen
in the July 2017 issue of Kunst & Kontext.5
Hebeisen related that he completed his
apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Munich
and fabricated artistic fences and gates, as
well as crosses for cemeteries. He described
work experience during the 1960s that
involved making European objects “look oldfashioned.”
6 After moving to Wernstein am
Inn in 1976, he was contacted by Zirngibl,
who was to present him with a great deal
of work. Zirngibl proposed a succession
of projects, starting with repairs to antique
African knives, then moving on to the
production of seemingly vintage African
weapons that he claimed were for clients
who couldn’t afford authentic examples.
For Hebeisen, Zirngibl’s requests were a
pleasure to fulfill, as they represented an
opportunity to be creative with his craft.
Following the publication of Afrikanische
Waffen in 1978, Zirngibl commissioned
Hebeisen to manufacture two versions
of the spectacular ivory-handled
blade that was pictured on the cover. While
based on the singular original knife, each
one intentionally displayed its own artistic
idiosyncrasies. Over the course of the next
twenty-five years, Hebeisen would manufacture
roughly a dozen more.
According to Hebeisen, the ivory handles were
supplied by Zirngibl, who had either taken them
from old knives or ordered them from an Austrian
carver who was capable of providing expertly
carved pieces with balanced, graceful curves and
surfaces with a patina that seemed to be derived
from years of handling. The ivory on these handles
exhibits convincing marks of crazing (an attribute
that typically develops with the passage
of time), but none of the telltale signs of artifi -
cially induced crazing, such as discoloration. Be-
FIG. 10 (below left):
The Rider Hebeisen
“Yakoma” blade
photographed in the home
of Tilman Hebeisen.
Photo: Tilman Hebeisen.
FIGS. 11 and 12 (above
right):
Two Hebeisen “Yakoma”
blades sold at auction
photographed in the home
of Tilman Hebeisen.
Photo: Tilman Hebeisen.