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Overview
This club, from the St Oswald collection, was described in the sale catalogue of Bullock's Museum in 1819 as 'A beautiful short War-Club; presumed to be the finest ever brought from the South Seas'. It is thought to have been collected on English explorer Captain James Cook's second or third voyage, although this is not certain.
Materials and decoration techniques
The club is completely covered with incised decoration, including several miniature figures on the shaft and flattened end. Most of the carving is extremely fine, and was probably executed with a shark tooth implement. The carving in the handle area is much coarser. This may have been to facilitate a firm grip, and could have been produced by a nail or other metal tool. Such clubs were sometimes carved over a long period of time, but this one may have been finished to the order of the person who took it to England.
Significance
Fighting clubs were the principal weapons of Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. They provided a vehicle for decorative carving, and the Tongan clubs, in particular, are renown for their fine geometric surface decoration and miniature figures depicting male activities such as hunting, fishing, and fighting.