hard wood; untanned deer hide; porcupine quills, white and dyed red; dew claws; deer hair, dyed red; metal cones; red pigment; hair, dark

The club is decorated with carvings and a burning technique, applied to both the ball head and along the club's spine. Quillwork embellishes the strap. One side of the strap has claws hanging off in three clusters, while the other side has line of single claws hanging off of it. 4 metal (tin?) cones hang on either side of the strap, making 8 in total.

On the club Side A: The front of the ball is carved and painted with a representational face encircled with a scalloped edge. Images on the stem include a ground bird, possibly grouse, six- and three-petaled flowers, a flower motif with two elongated double curves at right angles and four leaves at the four quarters, with a bottom panel of cross-hatching with dots in the squares. Side B: Starting near ball, there is a turtle, owl, a gun stock club, a six-petaled flower, with floral and cross-hatching motifs identical to those found on the other side. Strap: At the bottom, there are three vertical rows of zig-zag lines, with a straight line on one side, ending with a cross shape and additional u-shapes. There is also an hour glass with the inside of a thunderbird. An orange zig-zag goes up one edge and a white zig zag is on the other edge. A broader zig-zag crosses into the design fields in which there are eight thunder birds on one strap side. On other side there are three thunderbirds in orange, alternating with ovals dissected by lines and crosses. If this was worn as a strap across shoulder the thunderbirds would be arranged as ascending.

The decorations on the strap look like the the fields of a pictographic mnemonic device called a song scroll and used by various types of religious practitioners including Midewiwin priests and Jessakid (shaking tent) "conjurors."
RP noted that the ovals quilled on one side of the strap remind her of imagery related to the path of the sun, or cosmic bodies of some sort.
AC noted that the face looks feminine.

This club may have been made for a variety of purposes. Its extensive decoration suggests it was likely not made as a weapon, but rather for ceremonial use, or for performance.

RP stated that the sort of floral imagery on the club is the sort often found on nineteenth century items made to sell. On the other hand, other attributes such as the use of hard wood, suggests it was made to be used.

The strap may not have been originally made to go with the club - it may be older than the club (RP).
RP notes that the use of dew claws as tinklers, as found on the strap, is uncommon.

Stylistic features.

This club was part of Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers' founding collection. It was one of several items transferred to the Pitt Rivers Museum from the South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert) in 1884. It was sent to the Benthal Green Museum (part of the South Kensington Museum) in 1874.

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).