Weapons case

[yuanzhumin]

Hello all,

Tao4mind contacted me on my private mail few weeks ago to ask me what these weapons were. Here is what i told him: this is a set of fantasy/souvenirs weapons 'made in Taiwan' for American troops stationed on the island during the 50s and the 60s.

It's inspired by very crude Paiwan (local aborigines) and may be Igorot motives, made in the shape of an Atayal (another island tribe) knife for one of the knife, the shape of an american hunting knife for the other knife, the shape of an american indian tomahawk for the axe, a Western inspired sword-walking stick... I love the concept of the two parts spear you can put together: must have been very practical for the 'Paiwan' hunters !

This case is a perfect example of tribal fusion style and globalisation before the real globalisation.

There is no axes among the Taiwanese tribes, but anyway the artcraftmen (most of them were not even Paiwanese but simply Han Taiwanese trying to earn a couple of hard currency dollars) didn't care. They were making these weapons just to please the imaginary of young American soldiers that had dreamed in their youth of the cowboys and indians stories (see the tomahwak) and were stationed on an island, Taiwan, where there were still at that time some living headhunters (the last heads taken by Taiwanese Aborigines were that of Second world war allied soldiers or people/tribes allied to them in the jungles of Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia...!). On this, see my post (that didn't attract much comments!):
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=atayal

You can see a similar knife to the ones displayed here by Tao4u on the page I wrote on my website dedicated the 'artyfakes' in Taiwan aborigines material cultural items.
http://www.formosatribal.com/fromart.html

You still can find these low quality fakes coming out sometimes on Ebay or even on the Taiwanese 'antiques' market. Sure, they are becoming scarce and collectible in their way :-) But I would advise anybody to collect something more authentic! Anyway, it's true that's it is the first time I see a whole set like this, with the travelling case! A rare opportunity!

Best

Nicolas

[Tao4mind]

I have found you can take an item to ten antique specialists and get ten different responses. This antique dealer in NY claims his set is a RARE COLLECTION OF HAND CARVED AFRICAN HUNTING WEAPONS on eBay. <active auction> and even though it is lacking the bronze hardware, they are a similar hunting kit. Mine had a bowie style knife and a locking Japanese blade walking cane, which were added to the collection I guess. Got mine at a local military family estate sale with this mixed metal platter from the middle east.