This is an interesting gunstock war club attributed to the Mohawk Native American Indians of New York State of the Eastern Woodlands tribes. The piece comes from a Virginia collection of Antique Frontier Weapons, where it was attributed as being from the late 18th Century. The piece is constructed of Tiger Maple hardwood in the haft, being expertly carved and dyed with natural pigments and inset with a large notch-cut trade blade. The blade is a very crude iron example with a wide flat double edge blade and blunt point, showing two thin notch cut outs at the rear and visible hammer marks from forging. The blade has a dark coloring. The wood haft shows a gun stock/ gunstock haft pattern and is artfully adorned with brass and iron trade tacks. The entire club has a deep, shiny chocolate patina, along with proper signs of use. At the base of the war club handle is a rounded proud area working as a stop or pommel, which is crudely drilled with a pierced hole that likely held a leather wrist thong or feathers. Tomahawks and war clubs made from Tiger Maple wood are rare and have been documented as earlier American Indian weapons, most in the mid-to-late 1700’s period. A similar club can be seen in “Art of the Osage” (2004) by Bailey & Swan on page 98, along with being similar to the examples shown in Harold Peterson’s 1965 book, “American Indian Tomahawks”, on page 88, figure 21/ photograph 21 (number 2 and four each showing a crude forged blade). Provenance: From a large private Virginia collection of Antique Frontier Weapons. Measures overall 13 ¼ inch in length by 3 inches wide. The club measures overall 26 ½ inches in length and a blade that is 5 ¼ inch long.