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LOT 2791
Oceanic Wooden Massim War Club
TROBRIAND ISLANDS, EARLY-MID 20TH CENTURY A.D.
29 1/4 in. (783 grams, 74.2 cm).
Paddle-shaped club with carved scroll decoration at the top of the blade.
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of Frank Hurley (1885-1962), Australian photographer, filmmaker and adventurer.
From the collection of Mr Carlos Bahamonde, Manchester, UK.
Cf. a similar massim club in the collection of the Bowers Museum, inv.no.2015.17.7.
FootnotesThe Trobriand Islands are coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. The Massim clubs were both for ceremonial use and fighting, and were decorated with scrolls and abstract snake designs. Some of them were connected to sorcery: when a shaman pointed such a club towards someone, it was a death sentence.
Frank Hurley worked on Shackleton's Antarctic expedition of 1914-1917, photographing the Endurance whilst being marooned with the rest of the crew. In the 1920s, he mounted various expeditions to Papua New Guinea, which involved filmmaking and collecting on behalf of the Australian Museum and himself. He stored a number of artefacts in a log cabin at Whale Beach, which became an exotic setting for Sydney's glitterati attending raucous parties there in the 1930s. Selling the property after the war, he left the contents of the cabin, which were kept by the new owners, who moved to London in 1959.
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LOT 2791
Oceanic Wooden Massim War Club
Estimate £400 - 600€460 - 700 (for guidance only)$540 - 810 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£100 (EUR 116; USD 135) +BP*
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Oceanic Decorated Terracotta Cooking Bowl
Papua New Guinea, circa 19th century A.D.Estimate: £60 - 80 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Unglazed bulbous kombio type open cooking vessel with a pinch-decorated rim and the body with incised geometric decoration; repaired. 2.07 kg, 25.5 cm wide
From an old Hastings, Kent, UK, antiquities collection. Acquired on the UK art market since the 1990s. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman; thence by descent. Accompanied by a previous catalogue information slip. -
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Native North American Okvik Carved Fossilized Walrus Ivory Head
Alaska, St. Lawrence Island, circa 200 B.C.-100 A.D.Estimate: £300 - 400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
With a D-section profile, tapering end with a sharp point; a human face with carved almond-shaped eyes, open mouth and elongated slender nose; mounted on a custom-made stand, with a handwritten label reading 'Walrus ivory head, Okvik, 200 BC-100 AD, Exc. St. Lawrence Isl.' 82 grams total, 97 mm (12.1 cm high including stand)
Excavated at St. Lawrence Island. Ex John and Valerie Arieta, 1994. Dr Alan Black collection. From the collection of Mr Carlos Bahamonde, Manchester, UK. -
Native North American Punuk Carved Fossilized Bone Knife Handle
Alaska, circa 500-1,000 century A.D.Estimate: £300 - 400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
Modelled as a finely carved zoomorphic body with circular eyes and a rounded mouth, lines and dots decoration to the body, securing a smooth black stone blade. 43.1 grams, 10.1 cm
Excavated on St Lawrence Island, Alaska. Ex John and Valerie Arieta, 1996. Dr Alan Black collection. From the collection of Mr Carlos Bahamonde, Manchester, UK.
