RARE SOMALI SLAVER’S CLUB

Unique form with inverted conical head with pair of integral “horns”. The transition banded and the haft tapered to the butt. 25 1/8” length. Good uniform age with glossy patina over hardwood grain, slightly emphasized by age shrinkage. Somalia, separated from the Arabian peninsula by the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, was a buffer between Africa and the Arab world. It was an important commercial interface between the African and Arab world including the slave trade. This club was likely carried by a slave trader or merchant for personal protection in the streets where there was no law and fortunes changed hands.