HO.1954.72.86

A prestige object acquired by H.M. Stanley
This staff-sceptre was probably acquired before 1890 and was part of the collection of H.M. Stanley (1841-1904), which was donated to the Museum in 1954 by Denzil Stanley, his adopted son. These objects come mainly from the areas he visited during his last voyage to Central Africa, between 1887 and 1889. During this trip, however, Stanley was not active specifically in the region where this staff was produced, but rather in the periphery of this area, along Lake Tanganyika. He crossed the area during the Trans-African Expedition (1874-1877), setting up posts for the Association Internationale Africaine (AIA) (1880-1884). The staff may have been acquired during this expedition.

It is also possible that the staff was presented to Stanley by a third party, or that it is an object that appeared in a region other than where it originated and that it was acquired by Stanley during the trip of 1887-1889. The latter hypothesis is very likely. It is possible that Stanley acquired the staff in the Tanganyika region: this kind of regalia could be found in foreign courts due to the cultural or commercial influence of the Luba. Like famous sculptors, prestigious objects could circulate from one region to another. This staff-sceptre thus illustrates the different dynamics in the region during the last third of the 19th century: the circulation of objects and the acceleration of the mobility of people, accompanied by the urge to conquer new areas.