The lot features a rare and early 1700’s ball head war club attributed to the Algonquin Native American Indians. The piece is likely Wampanoag or Narragansett in origin and comes from a large, private museum Virginia collection of antique frontier weapons. The war club tomahawk is expertly carved from one solid piece of wood from the root burl of a tree. Concentric lines running toward the handle are indicative of an authentic, period-correct example according to authors Baldwin, Francis, Hartzler & Knowles, et al. Similar documented examples are shown in the photo gallery for comparison. The piece has a very deep, shiny chocolate patina with a large ball head and minor splits, nicks and dings from honest age and use. The left side of the ball has a large split from drying of the wood exposing the deep-set patina, indicating an old split, possibly from a strike. There is a large and artful carved “V” shaped cut out in the center of the haft. The gripping area has notch-cuts and ends with large knobs on the bottom. The earliest examples of ball head war club tomahawks typically showed shorter hafts and larger ball heads with no tacks and almost no decoration or adornment. Very few early 18th Century examples are still remaining in any private or museum collections. This is truly a wonderful Eastern Woodland Indians war club attributed to the Algonquin whose artifacts are scarce in the collecting community. Provenance: From a large private museum collection of antique frontier weapons in Virginia. Overall the piece measures 16 inches in length with a ball head that is 5 inches across.