A very fine fighting dagger with the handle modeled as a stylized human head with the head of a crocodile ending as the pommel. The flaked obsidian blade juts from the top of the ancestor's head. Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Wood, obsidian (volcanic glass), parinarium nut paste, and pigments. 19th century. 27 cm. Originally collected in the field by the Comte & Comtesse de Ganay, Charles et Régine van den Broek et Jean Ratisbonne on the Koriganne Expedition of 1934/1936.

Ref. :
• Coiffier, Ch. (Ed.) : Le Voyage de LA KORRIGANE dans les Mers du Sud. Hazan, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, 2001.
• Kaeppler, Adrienne L.: Kaufmann, Christian; Newton, Douglas: L'ART OCEANIEN. Citadeles & Mazenod, Paris. 1993, fig. 579, p. 474 for a human figure knife.
• Meyer, Anthony JP: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann Verlag, Köln. 1995, p. 330, fig. 360 for an anthropomorphic spear point.
Auction catalogue : : Collection Océanienne du Voyage de la Korrigane, Hôtel Drouot - Paris, Maurice & Philippe Rheims - auctioneers, Jean Roudillon - expert, 4th & 5th December 1961.