IMPORTANT 19TH C. FIJIAN "TOTOKIA" PINEAPPLE CLUB W/ AMAZING NATIVE REPAIR! 

Origin: W. Polynesia, Fiji    (Provenance: Ex. Casey and Laurie Conway Collection, Kingman Arizona, Ex. Erik Farrow San Rafael, CA)

Period/Date:  Likely Early 19th Century

Materials: iron wood, likely cassowina 

Description:  Here's a club I'm very excited about and have been after for years.  I can write a whole book on it but won't.  I was debating whether to post it since it is a special object that one truly must see and handle in person.  I'm sure someone will appreciate how rare it is from these photos.  I was going to hold it back for a theme exhibition on "native repairs" but ultimately I lacked the ambition.

Its shear scale and impressive weight alone would make it a great example.  It is one of the largest and certainly the HEAVIEST "Totokias" I've owned, weighing an astonishing 7.5 lbs!  However, what makes it SO important is that we can seen and learn how a skilled Fijian addressed a complex repair after his special weapon was damaged in combat.  After a serious battle, the club fractured at a stress point around the handgrip (the region spans 16 inches starting from the butt).  We are accustomed to seeing the occasional native repair to a kava bowl but nothing this extensive and technical.  The amazing repair speaks to how highly valued and to the level of mana it must have possessed not to be discarded.  

The order in which the painstaking repair was accomplished appears to have progressed like this:  The shaft was pierced and hand drilled on each side of the vertical fracture,  Sennit binding was then stitched through and tucked in on itself.  Hand cut wooden pegs were inserted over the holes to tightly secure the sennit.  Finally pieces of cassowina ironwood (like species) were shaped and carefully fitted into the exposed vertical channel.  This labor intensive repair serves as a historic record of a lost technique.  Practically speaking it insured that the club would survive to kill another day.  The pieces of applied wood and the pegs are well patinated showing that the club was used long after the repair was complete.  A couple pieces of the applied wood have come out but that is helpful in that we can see the sennit and exactly how it was secured.  Some old chips to several of the raised protrusions surrounding the head.  It serves as a testimony to the skill, artistry and vision of its owner.   

Dimensions:   Length 42"  (107 cm), Width 9"  (23 cm), Weight 7.5 pounds

Price:   $7500  (A custom display stand may be ordered for an additional fee) Currency Conversion   FREE SHIPPING When Using "Buy Now" Feature

Some will see "damage" while others will see "virtuosity".  This repair could be the work of a Tongan Canoe builder who were so famous for their craftsmanship.