Game Item Number: 1954.129 from the MAA: University of Cambridge
Description
A set of 60 gambling sticks variously marked with black and red bands, in a leather pouch with a small ivory toggle of Inuit manufacture. The sticks are of a fine grained hardwood and all have the patina of use.; Good
Context
Provenance is given as from Vancouver, B.C. The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; A note on the catalogue card states, The game is played by various N.W. Coast tribes, see Culin : Chess and Playing Cards. Sept. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1896, page 906. G.T.Emmons' s The Tlingit Indians , Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, No.70, 1991, has a substantial section on Tlingit gambling sticks, pages 413-414, from which some of the following information was extracted. The uniformity of the size of the sticks was carefully ensured during manufacture using a gauge hole through which each stick was passed. The designs on the sticks were sometimes of encircling bands in red and black, which were named after animals, manufactured objects, etc. and in each set there may be several with the same design. The designs had no value but rather served to identify the sticks. One game was played by shuffling the sticks under a bundle of shredded cedar bark and then the sticks were divided into separate bundles, the opponent betted on which bundle a particular stick was in.
Item History
- Made in British Columbia, Canada
- Received from I.M. Beasley during 1954
Who
- Culture
- Northwest Coast
- Received from
- I.M. Beasley
Where
- Holding Institution
- MAA: University of Cambridge
- Made in
- British Columbia, Canada
When
- Acquisition Date
- during 1954
Other
- Keyword
- Pastimes