A group of 10 Strickland River arrows. Samo, Bedamini and Gebusi peoples, Western Province, Papua New Guinea.Of typical form for the type, a group of mixed arrows with wooden heads, bone tips and bamboo points, some of the shafts carved with typical infill in geometric patterning, some with gentle rounded forms on the foreshafts. Rare and fine.Often simply referred to as “Nomad region” after the town and airstrip, these arrows come from the Strickland River and are found with minor variation on the Papuan plateau all the way to Mount Bosavi, spanning three provinces. The term “Nomad” is not incorrect as the Nomad airstrip is in Gebusi territory, however the stylistic distribution is far greater over a much larger area. Shaw (Shaw, 1996) asserts that the finest arrows of the type are made by the Samo people. Field images taken among the Gebusi on Dr. Bruce Knauft’s website show wooden tipped arrows with red-pigmented tips given to the boys upon the culmination of their initiation rites. These are exceedingly rare and were collected by George Craig on the Strickland River sometime in the 1960’s when the region was still largely unknown. Acquired by Marc Seidler from George Craig in the 1980’s; Field collected by Craig in the 1960s. The Arrows in this lot range from 52.25 inches tall up to 60 inches tall.

Good/ fair