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Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.
Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.

Old Warrior “Big Man” Beaded Forehead Band with Minute Beads (could be worn on neck or arm) from the Panga Tribe: Beautiful Western Highlands collection piece, Papua New Guinea HB1E. Collected in the late 1900’s.

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Big Man, Warrior, Hunter Tribal Traditional Sing-sing Festival Frontal Headgear.

Collected from the Panga Tribe in the late 1900’s.

From the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Highly Collectible tribal currency.

Item HB1E

This is a fine, entirely handmade,  Tribal Chief Beaded Head Gear band, an older piece: it took a great deal of time to sew these hundreds of white minute beads onto a head band, the red fabric strings closes it around one's head. The beads are sewn onto a stiff lining: the back is part plastic, obtained from trade, and handmade tapa (kapa) bark cloth.

Once worn on the forehead by Big Men during special celebrations, rites of passage, initiations and sing-sing festivals. Sometimes used to support other decorations such as headgear, feathers, leaves etc…

Tribal folks seen wearing such headbands, made of tiny Nassa shells or beads on the additional pictures.

 

The tribes or Irian Jaya, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea have lived in isolation for centuries due to the remoteness of their land and its difficult access. Their dress code has remained primitive for centuries. Traditionally, the men wear no other clothing apart from a penis sheath made of a cultivated gourd and known locally as a “horim” and some simple ornamentation such as string hair nets, bird of paradise feathers and necklaces with boar tusks or cowrie shells or other. On ceremonial days, it is another matter, they then use material from the surrounding jungles to create incredibly colorful and clever body adornments and costumes, as seen on the photos here as well.

Shell, teeth, bone, wood, beads and natural fiber binding, all crafted with great care, are the raw materials of most Oceanic jewelry. Brightness and shininess were greatly admired, and rarity, as with whale teeth among Polynesians or shell in the highlands of PNG, enabled particular objects to connote wealth, prestige, and power. 

Adornment among the highland people is among the most colorful and spectacular in Papua New Guinea, particularly during festivals, where it reflects the strength and pride of the various groups of the region. 

 Artistic expression, there, is conveyed largely through body art. Diverse in both media and application, the major components of Highlands body ornamentation as we mentioned above include bird of paradise plumes, body paint, and an enormous variety of decorative objects made from shell, teeth, beetles, orchid stem, fur, bone, bark, wood, and fiber. Moriarty recognized the importance of this art and its central position in the broader context of art. A visionary in any age, he not only developed a unique collection of body decoration from the Highlands of New Guinea collected between 1850 and 1880, but saw to it that this collection remained intact by donating it to the AGNSW. Today it is part of what is possibly the world's most important accumulation of this art.

We carry many other artifacts we collect direct from the tribes, in East and West Papua and the Trobriands and remote islands of Indonesia

All our collector and rare items come with pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of the tribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. When shipping internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money, and find the best rates available. If you have any questions or want to see research conducted on this piece and photos of tribes, tell us.