Fishhooks

An exceptionally well crafted hook for shark fishing. Bite marks in the wood made by (shark) teeth are clearly visible. Large, one-piece fishing hooks of this kind were used for shark fishing primarily in Polynesia, but also in Micronesia. The present specimen clearly shows bite marks. It lacks the usual binding at the end for the purpose of attaching a fishing line made from woven coir rope. In order to procure a suitable piece of wood for making a fishing hook, roots of trees which were already partially exposed and made of very hard wood, such as Persian ironwood, were bent into the appropriate shape as they were growing and once they had reached the desired size, they were divested of the bark and soft parts and carved into points at the ends. Sharks were caught not only for individual consumption but also commercially. In an article published in the New York Times on 27 September 1896, author Louis Becke reports on the shark fin trade between the South Seas and Australia for onward sale to China. Astonishingly, the shark skins were bought by members of the German merchant navy; nobody knew what use the German merchant seamen had for these skins. The object was acquired in 1902 from the Altona Museum, there are no other details regarding its provenance.