Expensive and cheap Chi Waras

Bamana carved wooden Chi Wara headdress features an abstract motif of a male antelope. There is also a female version that looks much different. The first photo shows an expensive version of the male from Sotheby’s with very fine carving. The second Chi Wara is much more quickly made and for some reason doesn’t have a penis. Both come from Mali and are handsome in design. You can get the cheaper one for less than $300 on eBay. Please enlarge the two photos and you can easily see why the first Chi Wara would get an A, and the other one a B on our value code.