Mahogany Shield from the Bali Hai Supper Club, St Paul, MN

I purchased this carved, mahogany shield from an antique store in Minneapolis, MN. The owner claimed the shield came from the now defunct Bali Hai Supper Club, formerly in St. Paul, MN and was purchased in 1948.

The front has two faces and on the reverse is a carved handle. The shield is in good condition with a few scratches and nicks. There are six holes in it, presumably for attaching it to the wall with screws.

My question is: what is the origin of this shield? There are no markings on it to tell me where it was carved. Is it Polynesian? Indonesian? African?

A larger image of the top face:

A larger image of the bottom face:

[ Edited by: Scott McGerik 2007-07-24 07:26 ]

Looks Peruvian to me.

Ditto. Peruvian or Bolivian.

Sabu

I believe they are Igorot(headhunter) tribesman/woman, from the philippines. I have a couple of headhunter statues that have the same headpiece(hat) and a couple of wooden busts that have the same pipe tucked in the headband. I will try to post some pix tomorrow.

[ Edited by: FreddieBallsomic 2006-02-01 15:39 ]

Freddie -

Igorot would definitely make more sense, since I've never seen a shield like that from South America, and it would have South Pacific origins then. But I swear to God I've got some Peruvian carved wooden plates with profiles wearing the same hat & pipe. Bizarre.

Sabu

Sabu, I'm with you. My parents have some Peruvian carvings and the hair and face is identical. The pipe is what is throwing me off....perhaps Igorot is it. This is interesting research.

click here

In the photo you can see the man with the hat and what appears to be a pipe handle showing on the side of his face.

Looks like Igorot has it...nice job Freddie

"He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice."

[ Edited by: Loki 2006-02-02 05:16 ]

Oh my goodness gracious! It looks like you've found proof that ancient South Americans sailed west on giant rafts and landed in the South Pacific! I guess this explains why Peruvians & Fillipinos both point with their lips, cover their furniture & carpets in plastic and love watching Basketball...

Thanks for the help. You have given me avenues of research. I'll post what I learn to this thread.

Heres a few from my personal collection of this type...enjoy.

[ Edited by: FreddieBallsomic 2006-02-06 13:10 ]

Yes those are definitely Phillipino tribesman, there are two common variations, one is a man and a woman, the other contrasts the similar hairdo's and pipes from 2 opposed tribes.

Sneaky