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13.5\" Rare Gilbert Islands Shark’s Tooth Kiribati Warriors Sword Tebute Artifact For Sale
![13.5\](img-large/g/-tMAAOSwbvpmRlA0/s-l1600/13-5-Rare-Gilbert-Islands-Shark-s-Tooth-Kiribati-W.jpg "13.5\")
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13.5\" Rare Gilbert Islands Shark’s Tooth Kiribati Warriors Sword Tebute Artifact:
$350.00
This item is typically found in a museum, but when bought, buyer commonly pays $1,500 - $3,000 and up.
A rarely seen late 19th to early 20th century shark tooth sword, known as a tebute and was unique to the Gilbert Islands of Micronesia, the islands today are known as the nation of Kiribati.
The sword is made from seasoned wood of the coconut palm with cutting edges made from sharks teeth attached with fine fibrous cords. Most of these swords were destroyed by the maritime visitors to the islands. Kiribati has a history of contrived and ritualized duels. The armor was made of thickly woven sennit, a kind of coconut fibre. The duellists wore helmets made of blowfish remains. The helmets were resilient and, due to the structure of blowfish, covered with many points, which had the ability of damaging weapons. The weapons resembled broadswords with a serrated edge created with many shark teeth. The duels were performed mostly for the purpose of settling disputes and maintaining honour. The practicality of the duels is debatable. Due to the difficulty of moving in this armour, falling over and becoming unable to get back up was common enough that duel assistants were required. Kiribati has been known for its traditional martial arts which were kept within the secrets of several families for generations. The Kiribati arts of fighting as opposed to Asian martial arts are not often mentioned or even advertised to be known by the general public. Though, there may be some noticeable parallels in principle to that of Asian martial arts, they are merely really different. For instance, generally, there is no kicking as in Karate kicks or Kung Fu kicks, and speed is more important than power. A list of some of these traditional martial arts is as follows: Nabakai, Nakara, Ruabou, Tabiang, Taborara, Tebania, Temata-aua, Te Rawarawanimon, and Terotauea.
The essence of Kiribati traditional martial arts is the magical power of the spirits of the ancestral warriors. All these martial arts skills share one thing in common. That is, they came from an ancestral spirit.
\"Nabakai\" is a martial art from the island of Abaiang originated from the person named Nabakai. Nabakai was a member of the crab clan called \"Tabukaokao\". The three ancestral female spirits of this clan \"Nei Tenaotarai\", \"Nei Temwanai\" and \"Nei Tereiatabuki\" which usually believed to manifest themselves with a female crab came to him and taught him the fighting art. Overall 61 cm long.Mostly found only in museums, offered is aVintage Handcrafted Made from Tiger Shark Teeth, Coconut Wood, Hair, and Straw.
Based on a study of the Gilbert Islands’ weaponry, first published in 1923, thirteen different varieties of weapons were traditionally used on the islands. These ranged widely in length and function; but the Bowers Museum new acquisition is a sword club referred to in the I-Kiribati vernacular. The wooden element of the club generally came from coconut wood sanded down to shape, but the major work of the sword went into acquiring and securing the teeth to the blade. Shark fishing was only done by experts. The larger size of the prey required fishermen to travel farther away from shore and employ methods including remarkable deep-sea hooks. When the teeth had been removed from the sharks, two methods were employed to secure them to swords. The first of these was a socketing technique. Small grooves were carved into the wood and the teeth were further stabilized with fiber cord. The technique used in the Bowers sword involves drilling small holes through the teeth themselves. Two thicker sections of palm fiber are then used to stabilize the teeth, and a more complex binding is used to ensure that the entire array of teeth is locked in place. This second method allows for the rare underlying layer of bark cloth we see in this example. The darker sections of fiber wrapping are human hair, used in almost every recorded example of Kiribati weaponry.
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