Massim Finger Drum Wood ~ Trobriand Islands Statue Art 18.5" w/MOP, Lizard Skin

Description

Massim Finger Drum w/Lizard Skin, Carved Wood from Trobriand Islands Statue Art. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.
18.5" height × 3" wide
This drum is made of hallowed out wood, carved by hand, and topped with genuine lizard skin. Handcarved with extreme minute detail. There are two crocodile heads eating fish. It is in excellent condition. There are also 8 mother of pearl inlays.
This Drum was part of my mother's private collection. My mother collected it while in the remote Trobriand chain of islands, on the island of Kiriwana, at Kaibola Beach. She purchased it from some local villagers in 1997.
The piece was carved for the Kula trade, a means of exchange or gift between islands on the sea-going-canoe route, it was just an important exchange item between different islands and laid in the chief’s hut as a valuable or handled during festivities.
Amazingly perfect considering the basic tools used such as pieces of broken shells, rusted nails from shipwrecks found on the beaches, and sea ray, shark skin or an animal horn or tusk rubbed for days against the surface till all is smooth, among other sanding materials, and to produce a sheen on the wood.
In these islands which are rarely visited, outside influence is at a minimum. The extremely skilled carvers inspire themselves from what is around them as they have access to nothing else: the natives, birds, fish, pigs, marine turtles, snakes and whatever they see in their dreams such as dragons or mystical figures.
Some of these items have very important meanings as they are used as part of the Kula ring trade system that has existed between the islands for centuries.
On Vacation from July 11th to July 18th.  All items will ship on July 19th.