Vanuatu - Malekula - "Paddle" Shaped War Club - rare type (19th century).

Description

Old, strictly Melanesian, Vanuatu war clubs are very beautiful.
Clubs like this Malekula "paddle" specimen which are admired for their unparalleled simplistic form/symmetry, not to mention, elegance, are hard to find.
***Take a look at photo #5 here - specimen #14 (the paddle type) is illustrated in Felix Speiser's great book
"Ethnology of Vanuatu"
This is a rare and heavy war club - it's not a paddle - it's a formidable weapon!
It possesses two "business ends" - the wide blade part (serves a dual purpose - to parry arrows & fracture bones via its relatively sharp edges). The other end of the weapon - the conical part - would've been used to jab an adversary's abdomen. This beautiful conical region of the club extends out by half an inch from the the shaft and tapers down to a point. Evidently, the gifted maker of this war club did not fail to take into consideration the importance of ergonomics in a battle situation (the hypothenar region of the user's palm could rest well against the superior part of the cone - thereby minimizing the chances of the weapon slipping away from the palm, when in use). When taking a break from deadly skirmishes, the inferior part (the point) could easily penetrate hardened earth, allowing the club to stand upright -- unaided by human agency - perhaps, as a marker of victory next to a newly assassinated foe (?).
*This is a great and gorgeous war club; the beautiful dark reddish wood speaks for itself.......It's in near perfect condition  - save for the usual minor, chips, dents, scratches - here and there.
Provenance: I had purchased it from a dealer, based in London & Vienna, for 00. This good dealer has participated in a number of good shows to date - like San Fran tribal and Tribal Art London.....I also had purchased, from this same dealer, a superb Ex-Bonham's Singarin village/ Sepik ancestor mask. The dealer had surmised that this particular war club was collected by Dr. Phillipe Francois, in the 1880s (see second last photo), and had showed me a facsimile of an old black and white photo depicting the interior of Dr Francoise's study, with this club on his wall, next to other Melanesian warclubs .  It was possibly manufactured a few years before its collection, in situ - 1870s.....
***** The last photo, showing this war club in the dealer's booth at San Fran tribal.....in the foreground, the mask, that I'd owned. That Tongan neck rest, in the corner, (ex - Keith St. Cartmail) was also mine.
***Incidentally, this is also an ex- Wayne Heathcote piece.
Measurements - 51 inches long....5 inches wide (blade area).
***INQUIRE COST OF SHIPPING IF YOU RESIDE SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND - AS COST OF SHIPPING THIS PIECE COULD BE AS HIGH AS 0 TO THESE PARTS.
*****STUDY PHOTOS FOR BEST DESCRIPTION.......DO YOUR RESEARCH.......KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING.......ALL SALES FINAL....ABSOLUTELY NO REFUNDS!!!!!......ask me questions (if need be).
Best,
Rez