Battle hammer "totokia" ·  Fidji Islands · ID: 3039642

Description

heavy wood, reddish brown patina, massive slightly curved shaft with heavy club head carved with pointed knobs and thorn-like tip, the latter slightly dam., some knobs broken off, fine crack, base;
the club head is modelled like the fruit of the pandanut tree. The point at the end was meant to knock a hole in the skull of the adversary, and because they did not require much of a backswing to be effective, they were favoured for combat in the underbrush. Some chiefs valued these clubs so highly that they were buried with them in order to be properly equipped for their journeys in the afterworld.

The object Battle hammer “totokia” with the object ID 3039642 was last part of the auction 81st Tribal Art Auction at October 31, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 107.

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Comparing literature

Wardwell, Allen, Island Ancestors, Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, 1994, p. 165, ill. 67a