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Description

Spoon with riveted handle of mountain goat horn, carved with animal and human figures. [CAK 16/06/2009]

Longer Description

Spoon with riveted handle of mountain goat horn, carved with animal and human figures. The spoon is carved from mountain goat horn that has been steamed and moulded into shape. The bowl is smooth and plain. The handle is curved and carved with a series of figures. At the base of the handle is a bear, possibly even a sea bear, with a hummingbird in its mouth. Between the bear's ears are the legs of a human figure that extends up the handle. Above the human is a frog, before there is another human at the top of the handle. [CAK 16/06/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - 'W.H. MECHLIN, Esq. May - Spoon with riveted handle of Mountain Goat's horn, carved with totemic designs of animals, HAIDA, N.W. AMERICA.

There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 8 6 98]

Pitt Rivers Museum label - [glued to bowl] Spoon of Mountain Goat's horn, with totemistic carvings. HAIDA, N.W. AMERICA Pres. by W. H. Mechlin, 1930 [CAK 16/06/2009]

Related Documents File - The Haida Project Related Documents File contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This spoon was viewed alongside other horn and wood spoons on Wednesday Sept 9, 2009. The material was identified as goat horn and it was explained that people do not tend to carve small wooden spoons, and further than goat horn is similar to a loose form of ivory when carved in that it is a bit flaky. The nail riveting the bowl and handle was identified as being a copper alloy. The riveting allows for mending and re-using a carving after damage. It was also believed that steel tools were used in the production of this spoon. It was noted by delegates that there was evidence of steel tool usage on Haida Gwaii prior to contact with European traders; the steel came from the Aleutian Islands or washed up on shore from Japanese ships. The iconography of the spoon was described, from bottom to top, as a hummingbird, bear, human, frog and human. One delegate pointed out that it was a frog in the jaws of the bear: the frog's eyes are visible. Hummingbirds, it was noted, pass through Haida Gwaii annually. Kwiaahwah Jones also thought that near the frog's tongue may be a rainbow design which is associated with the village of Klukwan in Alaska. There was also a question as to whether there was a wolf on the spoon (rather than bear). One delegate thought there may be a sea bear at the back on the handle where it meets the bowl because of a tail design. It was proposed that in the slit about the tail, a fin could have been inserted. Other delegates had a more functional explanation for this feature. It was suggested the spoon could have fit with a matching bowl or dish: the groove in the back of the spoon would have slotted in to the dish. Diane Brown thought the spoon told the story of Jiigwa town - a village that burnt down to nothing and where it rained fire. She wondered if this spoon survived Jiigwa.
In response to horn spoons more generally, delegates made a number of comments on their construction, use and related information. It was noted that when the bowl of the spoon and handle sections are joined, each part is often made from different types of horn. The bowl of the spoon tends to be made from mountain sheep horn and the handle from mountain goat horn. The greenish hue on some of the horn spoons received interest. It was proposed that the discolouration of the darker mountain goat horn to a green hue could be the result of UV damage. The copper used to repair or join parts of spoons also received a lot of interest. Haidas noted that copper is a sign of wealth and thus would be used on spoons of wealth. Replacement rivets were identified as being made of a copper alloy such as brass, and signs of copper corrosion were identified. The irregular shape of a number of the bowls of spoons was likely a factor of being placed in too hot of a soup. The scoop can lose its shape if overheated. At the same time, the scoop can be re-formed using the same techniques as when it was first made. Goat horn spoons were traded between nations in the Pacific northwest. And European traders first arriving in the region observed blankets woven from mountain goat fur. [CAK 18/03/2010]

This object was viewed and confirmed as Haida by tribal members Vincent Collison, Lucille Bell, and Kwiiawah Jones on 7 September 2007 in preparation for a planned Haida community visit to PRM in 2009 [L Peers, 24/01/2008]

Item History

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