Producer unknown to us
Hammerstone club
Americas, North America, Great Plains
19th century
Stone, wood, leather, beadwork, hair
Erich Hösel (professor and sculptor) probably acquired the hammerstone club during his trip to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904
Purchased by the museum from Herta Hösel in 1962
NAm 4723
The hammerstone club was decorated with beadwork on the shaft and the stone itself. In addition, a long tuft of hair is fastened to the end of the shaft.
Hammerstone clubs of the Great Plains were often made from an oval stone with an incised groove. The stone was attached to the wooden shaft by sewing it into a leather tube and placing the end of this tube into these grooves after it had been soaked in water. Upon drying, the material would fit tightly around the wood and stone.
These clubs were effective impact weapons. However, when lavishly decorated with beads and horsehair, they were also carried as purely ceremonial weapons at dances. Similar dance sticks are still used today at powwows (ritual and social dance gatherings, often competitive in nature).
The collector Erich Hösel (1869–1953) was a Saxon sculptor. His visit to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, in particular, the ethnological expositions, sparked a lifelong artistic interest in Indigenous North America. On this trip, he acquired a number of objects and subsequently became active in German networks of enthusiasts and collectors, for example, in the Karl May Museum in Radebeul. By purchasing a large part of his estate in 1962, the Leipzig Museum was able to partially replace its wartime losses in the North America collection.
Frank Usbeck