Two Large Colombian Amazonian Bows with 4 Large Arrows

Item CT09  

This Item was Sold on 3 December 2011 for $447


Similar artifacts for sale are often found on the South American Artifacts web page. 

Historical Pricing information for this item and similar artifacts can be found at: Historical Artifact Prices.


This item is a lot of two large Palmwood Bows and four large Arrows from the Colombian region of the Amazon basin. These were purchased from William Fagan & Company in the early 1980s.

The largest bow is magnificent. It is made out of a large piece of Black Palm wood. It is carved with a gentle curvature along the entire length. The bow is tapered so that the middle of the bow has the thickest section. The bow is cambered along the entire length at the inside of the curve to reduce weight and add ribbing for added stiffness and strength. Both ends have a narrow pointed end for attaching the string (not included). The bow is smooth and without damage. This is one of the finest Amazonian bows I have ever seen. Length = 175 cm ; Weight = 546 gm

The smaller bow is also very nice. It is made out of a large piece of Black Palm wood. It is carved with a gentle curvature along the entire length. The bow is slightly tapered so that the middle of the bow has the widest section. Both ends have a narrow pointed end for attaching the string (not included). This bow is smooth and without damage. This is a very fine Amazonian bow. Length = 161 cm ; Weight = 538 gm

There are four large arrows in this lot. All four arrows have fletching. Two of the arrows have blunt ends to stun, rather than kill prey. These stun arrows are often used to capture parrots and other large birds. One of the stun arrows has a hardwood foreshaft between the cane and stun tip. Two of the arrows have hardwood spear points. One of these has a Palm wood foreshaft that is beautifully tied to both the main shaft and the spear point. All four arrows are made out of a very stiff and light weight hollow cane shaft. The cane is similar to River Cane from the American Southeast that is used to make atlatl darts. These are not tourist items. The arrows are in excellent condition. There is some unraveling of the cordage that is used to tie the hardwood point onto one of the arrows. The longest arrow is 177 cm. The weight of all four arrows is 236 gm.

Because of the size, it would be very expensive to ship this item overseas.

This artifact is from the estate of Dain Torguson. The family will use the proceeds from the sale of this artifact to display a sculpture crafted by Dain in a public library in Rapid City, North Dakota.



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