Pipe Tomahawks from The British Museum Collection

Tomahawk-head made of iron, with pipe-bowl made of brass, engraved with flowers.

Length: 6.75 inches Width: 2.25 inches

Americas, North America

Acquisition date 1882

Attached labels read: "Tomahawk made in England for N. American Indians" and "A W.S S"

Tomahawk-pipe-bowl made of bronze.

cast

Length: 16 centimetres

Tomahawk-pipe. The bowl axehead (a) is made of iron, and the stem (b) is made of wood, stained with horizontal black stripes and inlaid with white metal. The white metal coveres the mouthpiece, the join between the head and the shaft and forms images on the shaft itself. On the left side is a large woodsman's axe, a curved quadrilateral that may represent a streched hide and a heart. On the back of the shaft is an arrow, and on the right side of the shaft are the same symbols as on the left except that the axe has been replaced by a tomahawk.

Length: 16 centimetres (of head) Width: 7 centimetres (of head)

Depth: 2.8 centimetres (of head) Length: 59 centimetres (of stem)

Acquisition date1882

Copy and images from The British Museum.