A Very Rare Nguni Chief Knobkerrie Club
A Very Rare Nguni Chief Knobkerrie Club
Nguni / Xhosa / Ngoni / Zulu or surrounding neighbors
Xhosa Kingdom - Zulu Kingdom - Cape Colony - Boer Republic - Colony of Natal (South Africa) - Swaziland (Eswatini)
Last half 19th century (ca. 1860s - 1870s)
Rhinoceros horn
Knob Diameter: 5,7cm
Overall Length: 39,7cm
Weight: 209gr.
Collection Date: 2024
Collection Number: 431
Ex. Ted Bailey: Ann Arbor, Michigan (1987 - 2024) (https://www.flight-toys.com/artifacts/a32.html)
Ex. Barclay Gallery: Mt. Clemens, Michigan (1986 - 1987)
Ex. British Auction House (?): (?-1986)
An outstanding example of a rare Nguni Chieftains knobkerrie collected from the Zulu Wars in South Africa in the 1870s. Rhinoceros horn knobkerries were reserved for chiefs of the Zulu and neighboring peoples as symbols of prestige, power, and status.
This example is one piece, carved completely from the horn of a rhinoceros with a rounded ball head and a slightly curved shaft. This one remains smaller than most in collections and libraries at 37,7cm length. Some wear to the ball head. A very rare and valuable object of the Zulu Wars period with exciting association.
This object came from the collection of Ted Bailey, an internationally highly- ranked competitive boomerang thrower, designer, and producer of advanced technology booms and producer of the quarterly "Boomerang Journal". His work advanced the design in MTA (maximum time aloft) types of flight boomerangs.
Photograph 8: Zulu chief of KwaZulu/ Natal, South Africa.
Photograph 9: Zulu chief, 1902.
More about Ted Bailey and his work on boomerangs.