Item N73
This Item was Sold on 13 June 2020
for $78
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Historical Pricing information for this item and similar collectable boomerangs can be found on the Boomerang Pricing Guide
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This large traditional boomerang was constructed out of a light weight hardwood natural elbow in the 1920s. This boomerang is in the best condition of the Pemberton natural elbow boomerangs. It is in excellent shape with no damage. The airfoils are magnificentwith cambering on the underside of both blades. The tip of the dingle arm has black paint covering notes that Pemberton inked, the reason is unknown. The elbow has " 0.65 " and " 85 gm " neatly printed on the upper surface. This boomerang looks like it is strong enough to throw, but please be careful because it is a valuable historical boomerang made in California nearly 100 years ago.
Bill Pemberton is not a well known boomerang maker or thrower. In the mid 1990s, someone bought a collection of approximately 25 boomerangs at a yard sale in the Bay Area of California and they sold the boomerangs on eBay. Two collectors purchased most of these boomerangs - Dan Neelands and Dain Torguson. The majority of these were made out of hardwood strips or homemade plywood and the designs and construction techniques were wild. Some even had Aluminum sheet as a layer, similar to the construction technique of Oscar Cuartas. A few years after these were sold on eBay, Dain Torguson passed away and I purchased some of Dain's boomerangs from Dain's mother. After I acquired these, Dan and I decided to do some detective work and find out who made them and when they were made because none of the boomerangs were signed or dated. There were two big clues that helped us find this information. First, the boomerangs had been wrapped in newspaper dated in the early 1930s. Second, there was a single Aboriginal hunting boomerang in the lot and that artifact had Bill Pemberton's name, some notes and a date in the mid 1910s. Using the notes on the throwstick, we figured out that Bill Pemberton had traveled to Australia nearly 100 years ago. He purchased at least one boomerang and then he returned home to California and made boomerang construction and throwing his hobby. I assume that he passed away or became disabled in the early 1930s and his family packed them away with newspaper, only to be taken out of storage in the mid 1990s and sold at a rummage sale. Therefore, all of the Pemberton boomerangs are 90-100 years old. Quite a story! |
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