A bounty of bone daggers. Quite the successful haul from a four-day trip west of Maprik that all began by happenstance. Our truck broke down well past Maprik on our way to Lumi in the West Sepik. As we waited alongside the road for my driver to fix the vehicle I began an easy, unrushed conversation with some of the village men nearby. I told them that I was from America and that I go around buying artifacts. “What kind of artifacts?” they ask. I go into my spiel, “figures, masks, shields, drums, wooden pillows, bowls, plates, bone daggers…” One of the men said he had a bone dagger, then another man had one, then another... We ended up staying several days canvassing all the surrounding villages. Some real beauties were found.
A bounty of bone daggers. Quite the successful haul from a four-day trip west of Maprik that all began by happenstance. Our truck broke down well past Maprik on our way to Lumi in the West Sepik. As we waited alongside the road for my driver to fix the vehicle I began an easy, unrushed conversation with some of the village men nearby. I told them that I was from America and that I go around buying artifacts. “What kind of artifacts?” they ask. I go into my spiel, “figures, masks, shields, drums, wooden pillows, bowls, plates, bone daggers…” One of the men said he had a bone dagger, then another man had one, then another... We ended up staying several days canvassing all the surrounding villages. Some real beauties were found.