Swazi Antique "Gebu" Club

Authentic Africa is honored to have the following selection hand picked and commentary information provided by Mr. Gordan Crawford renown collector and the author of “African Weapons: The Wanderings of a Collector.”

"There are three types of clubs recognized in Swaziland: the Sagile, the Lingedla and the Gebu. Generally only the head of the club is carved, the handle being left covered in its natural bark. There are two reasons for this, firstly the bark provides a good rough grip and secondly, the late king Sobuza instructed the nation to leave the bark so that the youth would be able to identify the trees suitable for clubs."

"The Gebu was also developed from a desire to create an impact point on the round headed club. Here however the lard indents were altered to achieve this resulting in the Gebu. They were widened to such a degree that effectively the top and bottom of the round head was lopped off creating a flattened head. However on a well made Gebu, as in our selection, the two flattened ends remain distinctly concave, whereas a poorly made one they are cut flat by using a saw. When making a Gebu there is generally a preference for light colored wood that has a dark bark. The bark may even be artificially blackened with boot polish, this was not done in the case of the club on display."

Please click photo for enlargement!

See additional pictures below.

Please scroll down to Order.

When OFFLINE click button to leave a message!

Dimensions: 41 1/2 inches long. The club head is 3 1/4 inches wide.

Wt: 6 lbs.

**For a complete inventory listing please go to the 'Index' section on the Navigation Bar to your right**