Original Native American 19th Century Wabanaki Burl Root Head Trade Club with Auction Provenance - Circa 1890
In stock
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Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a very good late-19th-century Wabanaki burl root club, measuring approximately 17 ¼ inches long and showing substantial age, use, and surface wear. The club was acquired together with two closely related Wabanaki root clubs that retained old Butterfield & Butterfield auction tags. This particular example no longer carries the same auction label, but it came from the same auction house and likely came from the same source as the other two clubs.
Wabanaki root clubs are a long-established carving tradition, especially associated with the Penobscot and other Wabanaki communities of Maine. They were traditionally formed from a sapling with the slender trunk used as the handle and the naturally complex root ball or burl forming the club head. Historic examples served as weapons and ceremonial objects, while by the late 19th century Wabanaki carvers were also producing root clubs for the growing Victorian tourist and collector market.
This example has a naturally irregular burl or root head, with the shaft retaining several knots and other growth features. The wood shows moderate cracking, particularly through portions of the shaft and root area, consistent with long-term drying and age.
The shaft has several knots in the wood as shown with some moderate cracking. The club appears to have been finished with some sort of oil or veneer to seal it.
This example is especially interesting for the combination of its late-19th-century Wabanaki root-club form, naturally developed burl head, aged surface, and association with two related examples from the same Butterfield & Butterfield auction grouping. Even without its own surviving auction tag, it retains the connection to the other two and to the Wabanaki root-club tradition at the height of the late Victorian collecting period.
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