foftwood, probably beech (identified by Ian Gourlay - see Pitt Rivers object catalogue); black paint.

The club's ball is made from a knot in a tree. It is carved, incised and painted.

Carved motifs: Side 1: There is a fox or wolf-like animal figure with fangs biting the club's ball (CW, HB). Moving down the stem, running along the shaft's backside are parallel double wavy lines following the scallop of the edge, terminating in a circle incised in four quarters, with a saw-tooth edge. A drilled hole appears in the centre of the circle. Carved images in the middle include a thunder being near the top of the ball. A marten being is beside the thunder being, upside down, followed by an arrow with five feathers on one side of the shaft, and four on the other (nine in total). There are also arrow motifs and and incised circle at the end of the shaft. Painted faces are also on this side. Side 2: A Skydome motif with trefoil incision follow scalloped edge. At the top, the same canine motif is biting at the ball. There is a painted circle with an eqidistant cross and spiraling rays on the outside on the cheek of being. Running down the stem there are a series of crescents, painted. After three of them, of varying widths, there are two straight lines with two dots between them. One dot is partially covering a skydome motif. The other fills in an incised circle. Also an incised diamond shape. The circle and diamond are in the under-edge of the scallop. The shaft is scalloped, and incised with wavy lines (HB).

This item appears to have been made to be be more decorative than functional, as it is in the style of a war club, but made in a soft wood. A real weapon would be heavier, made of a hard wood (HB). There may be underworld connotations in the being whose mouth holds the ball (RP), as well as in the wavy lines and scalloping on shaft (HB).

RP says this club was probably made for the souvenir trade or for dislpay, and reports seeing a similar club for sale at or for the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). CW wondered why the club would be decorated with paintings that appear to be authentic, if it was made for the souvenir trade. RP said that maybe they are meant to replicate "authenticity" and thus increase the product's appeal to consumers, as there was a market value and thus a motivation attached to doing beautiful, "authentic" looking work. CW wondered whether, if it not a real weapon, was it made for ceremonial purposes? RP mentioned that David Penney has called such items, made for ceremonies or show, "sumptuary weapons."

The club was made before 1874, as this is probably when Pitt Rivers sent it to the Benthal Green Museum.

In 1884 this club was transferred from the Benthal Green and South Kensington Museum to the Pitt Rivers Museum as part of Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection. It was held at the South Kensington Museum (which became the Victoria and Albert Museum) from 1880 to 1884.

RP David Penny - "sumptuary weapons" wood is soft - would fracture under stress.

Illustrated as Figure 4 on page 81 of 'Ball-Headed Clubs in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Projecting Power among Woodlands Performers,' by J.C.H. King, in Three Centuries of Woodlands Indian Art: A Collection of Essays, edited by J.C.H. King and Christian Feest (European Review of Native American Studies Monographs 3; ZKF Publishers, 2007): 75.84. The caption reads: "Both sides of the Pitt Rivers club, first recorded in the 1870s. It seems likely to have been created at the same time as the British Museum clubs, probably by the same hand(s) and also for use by Ojibwas."

Information taken from the Pitt Rivers Museum object catalogue.

This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, December 8-22 2007, funded by a grant from the International Opportunities fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

researchers present: Heidi Bohaker (HB), Al Corbiere (AC), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Laura Peers (LP), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).