Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


1163 - West African Lobi Tribe Figural Slingshot with Crocodile Head Handle

This is a carved wooden slingshot originating from the Lobi Tribe of Burkina Faso in West Africa used for hunting small game. Unlike more typical examples employing a human form, this slingshot features a crocodile head at the end of the handle with slightly different humanoid faces on either side at the fork. This nicely carved example stands 8½ inches (21.3 cm) tall and weighs about 2.9 ounces (82 grams). The finish appears slightly less smoothed and paler in the area to which the now absent sling would have been attached. There are old, narrow stable appearing cracks in one arm and on one side of the handle.


West African Lobi Tribe Figural Slingshot

West African Lobi Tribe Figural Slingshot



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