Oceanic Club Question: Real Deal or Tourist Appeal?

Indianajones · 29th June 2011, 09:24 AM

Hello, this is a club from Malaita, the Solomon islands. To my (humble) opinion it is indeed -as you suspected- from the beginning of the 20th cent. as the engraving is quite finely done. The inset shells are also a quite nice feature. May certainly be used in ceremonies.
Though, to be clear, it is not the real good old (19th cent) thing as those are mostly made of black ebony and have an instant reckognizable 'moon'-shaped finial of the handle (in acute angle) and a more pronounced diamondshape (sharper corners, divided surface in four areas by a crossridge etc). Havent got a picture of those in my documents to show unfort.
Hope this helped you a bit.

laEspadaAncha · 29th June 2011, 06:48 PM

Hello Indy (If you're going to go by the late 20th century's greatest fictional archeologist, then I get to call you by his nickname

) and thanks for the response... I was hesitant to attribute it to the Solomon Islands with any degree of certainty, given the (general) form seems to occur elsewhere in the South Pacific.

The more time I am spending with this club, the more I am warming to it...

What appear as crescents when viewed head-on take on the appearance of open, teeth-lined mouths when viewed horizontally from the edge:

Indianajones · 30th June 2011, 06:42 PM

Hi, yes you may ofcourse (call me 'Indy'), though can tell you that I've made more and very hazardous REAL expeditions and trips in my life, mostly in the difficult to travel and remote area's (tribal) of the Philippines.

As you mentioned you 'saw a open mouth with teeth' or so;
have you ever considered it (may) look like a ray (the flat kind of fish that lay on the oceanfloor)?! See the fist pic of the club and consider the two 'opercula' (was it called?) as its eyes and those engraved wavy lines as the wavy side of the flatfish which curl up when the fish moves.

The club surely has a nice usage patine on its handle! I always like usage patine.

Small fact; those 'opercula' are actually the lids on the opening of one of those (kind of) shells depicted next to. Together with kauri shells they are most used to represent eyes on wooden statues and figures.

Best, Wouter

tom hyle · 7th July 2011, 02:16 AM

Hmmm...."eyelash" marks, anyone?
It is often thought that clubs would be obsolete as weapons going back to the local advent of steel blades, but this does not appear to be historically the case.
Notably, the N American police in the 1900 era used short clubs around one foot long for crowd control and riots, the longer clubs being for patrol, according to what I've read and heard.
I like these short daggerlike clubs.

29th June 2011, 06:48 PM	#2
laEspadaAncha Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 608	Hello Indy (If you're going to go by the late 20th century's greatest fictional archeologist, then I get to call you by his nickname ) and thanks for the response... I was hesitant to attribute it to the Solomon Islands with any degree of certainty, given the (general) form seems to occur elsewhere in the South Pacific. The more time I am spending with this club, the more I am warming to it... What appear as crescents when viewed head-on take on the appearance of open, teeth-lined mouths when viewed horizontally from the edge: Attached Images

29th June 2011, 09:24 AM	#1
Indianajones Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 180	Hello, this is a club from Malaita, the Solomon islands. To my (humble) opinion it is indeed -as you suspected- from the beginning of the 20th cent. as the engraving is quite finely done. The inset shells are also a quite nice feature. May certainly be used in ceremonies. Though, to be clear, it is not the real good old (19th cent) thing as those are mostly made of black ebony and have an instant reckognizable 'moon'-shaped finial of the handle (in acute angle) and a more pronounced diamondshape (sharper corners, divided surface in four areas by a crossridge etc). Havent got a picture of those in my documents to show unfort. Hope this helped you a bit.

30th June 2011, 06:42 PM	#3
Indianajones Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 180	Hi, yes you may ofcourse (call me 'Indy'), though can tell you that I've made more and very hazardous REAL expeditions and trips in my life, mostly in the difficult to travel and remote area's (tribal) of the Philippines. As you mentioned you 'saw a open mouth with teeth' or so; have you ever considered it (may) look like a ray (the flat kind of fish that lay on the oceanfloor)?! See the fist pic of the club and consider the two 'opercula' (was it called?) as its eyes and those engraved wavy lines as the wavy side of the flatfish which curl up when the fish moves. The club surely has a nice usage patine on its handle! I always like usage patine. Small fact; those 'opercula' are actually the lids on the opening of one of those (kind of) shells depicted next to. Together with kauri shells they are most used to represent eyes on wooden statues and figures. Best, Wouter

7th July 2011, 02:16 AM	#4
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	Hmmm...."eyelash" marks, anyone? It is often thought that clubs would be obsolete as weapons going back to the local advent of steel blades, but this does not appear to be historically the case. Notably, the N American police in the 1900 era used short clubs around one foot long for crowd control and riots, the longer clubs being for patrol, according to what I've read and heard. I like these short daggerlike clubs.