Spear with forked head, each of the two points having two backwards facing barbs. The neck of the spear flares into a shield shape panel carved with a fretwork design depicting a meandering key around lozenge shaped spaces. A plaque is screwed to the panel, which reads, “Water Polo tournament Hollandia NNG 160859”
The dating of the object is prudential – before the date of purchase from the sale room. But the label suggests that it could be considerably older, especially as the location is given as Nederlands Neuguinea. This places it before 1963. It’s probably made of mangrove wood as are most traditional working wooden objects. It’s of (to me) a not very well known design. My guess is that it’s for fishing by the disposition of the barbs, but I’m only guessing. How did the object acquire its second life as a trophy? Not many Papuans would have played water polo so I guess it has become part of the paraphernalia of the colonial administration.
