We offer for sale a rare Buckler (Hand Shield) of the Batammaliba tribe residing in the northern areas of Togo and Benin, just on the borders of Burkina Faso. This is basicly a defense shield used mainly against arrows but now also in use as a ceremonial artifact used in war dances and other ceremonies of the Batammaliba people. It is 9 inches in diameter, made of spiral canes wrapped with thin rattan fibers. A spiral cane cone rises from the center of the shield (probably a phallic symbol). For more details on this bucklers please see: Boucliers d’Afrique, d’asie, du Sud-Est et d’Oceanie du Musee Barbier-Mueller. p.36. Good condition. Two of the radial strips are missing and very few rattan fibers are broken.