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Originally Posted by colin henshaw
To try to expand on the points you have raised :-
Here are a couple of images of Austral Islands paddles that I have picked off the internet for reference. I believe fairly similar carved decoration was also used in Fiji.
Regarding European contact..as far as I know British, French and Spanish ships all explored the Pacific Islands in the late 18th/early 19th centuries. Also the US Exploring Expedition visited the South Pacific in the late 1830s. Not sure if they visited the Australs, but they did Fiji. After explorers came missionaries, traders, whalers & settlers.
Two more points of observation - the wood on the piece seems quite dry and abraded from the images, this could indicate prolonged contact with salt spray and exposure. The presence of cowrie shells and those leather tassels tend to suggest West Africa, so perhaps a sailor owner had visited there as well as the Pacific ? Possible slavery connection ??
Anyway, an intriguing object...
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Thanks for the picture from the net. Interesting that it has carved wooden protrusions at the top of the club. Would the bent nails grouped in a ball be in imitation of this?
Yes, the club is quite dry and has a lot of age splits and cracks. Is this from salt spray? Could be. The cowrie shells are quite bleached so they have had a lot if exposure to the sun at one time. The dry wood could also be fro change of climates, storage conditions, etc. it just seems quite old to me. Not sure it would be worth treating the wood at this time.