- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Wooden ball-headed fish club with slightly narrower grip. [SM 08/08/2007]
- Long description
- Wooden ball-headed fish club with slightly narrower grip. Carved from a single piece of spruce wood. The end of the grip or handle has been carved with a knob. The grip is narrow and widens slightly to form the shaft of the club. The ball end is much wider, with rounded sites and a flat end. Two large chunks have been removed from the side of the ball end, quite likely through use. [CAK 23/06/2009]
- Geographical reference
- British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
- Cultural groups
- Haida
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1924
- Date collected
- By 1924
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1924
- Materials and processes
- Material Spruce Wood Plant, Process Carved
- Dimensions
- Length: max 440 mm, Width: max 103 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1924.33.11
- Research and responses
The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum’s collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This fish club was viewed alongside other tools and weapons on Monday Sept 14, 2009. Christian White identified this as a fish club. He believed it was made from spruce wood, or possibly from hemlock as the club is very light in weight and also dry. He thought the club was carved from a thick branch originally. Delegates noted that halibut clubs were used to hit the fish once it was caught because they are so large and can thrash about a boat so violently that people can be thrown out of the boat or canoe. [CAK 17/05/2010]
Search terms: Fishing, Tool, Club, Fishing Accessory