Item Records

This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.

The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.

These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.

  • Data
  • Data Source

This information was automatically generated from data provided by Pitt Rivers Museum. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Silver bracelet with a single clasp and carved with design of a beaver. [CAK 17/08/2009]

Display History

Displayed in Rank Status And Prestige On The Northwest Coast Of America, at PRM, 1996. [CW 29/11/99]

Longer Description

Silver bracelet with a single clasp and carved with design of a beaver. The face of the beaver is in the centre of the bracelet, and the legs and body wrap around either side. [CAK 17/08/2009]
Description taken from Conservation Card by Lorraine Rostant 13/02/1996 - One of two engraved silver bracelets with totemic (?beaver) designs. Broad bracelet of Silver held with simple clasp. Design of face chased on. (Lorraine Rostant 13/02/1996) [LKG 26/03/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - 'ARTHUR J. EVANS Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. July [One of] Two engraved silver bracelets, with totemic (?beaver) designs, Haida, British Columbia.

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 9 6 98]

Pitt Rivers Museum label - Silver bracelet HAIDA B.COLUMBIA d.d. A. Evans 1900. [CAK 17/08/2009]

Pitt Rivers Museum display label - "Silver Bracelets. Haida. Queen Charlotte Islands. Prior to European contact the Haida practised tattooing. Traditionally, Haida tattoos took the form of matrilineally inherited crests. After contact, these crests were reproduced in bracelets and other forms of jewellery. The Beaver crest appears on the upper bracelet here and the Killer Whale on the lower. At first such bracelets were hammered out of whole coins, but later coins were melted down and poured into simple moulds before being hammered and finished. Only the highest-ranking people could wear such bracelets. Upper: Donated in 1900 by Arthur J. Evans. (1900.25.2) Lower: Collected by Beatrice Blackwood in 1925 and donated by her in 1939. (1938.36.1727)"

Written on object - RIT COLUM [British Columbia?] ANS [illegible] [CAK 17/08/2009]

Related Documents File – A discussion of bracelets can be viewed on Tape 6, times 8:15, 9:55 and 17:45, and Tape 7, time 27:20. The tapes are in The Haida Project Related Documents File which 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 bracelet was viewed alongside other items of personal adornment on Friday Sept 11, 2009. Delegates confirmed the identity of the animal as a beaver. Christian White noted the large front teeth as a prime indicator of the animal. He thought the bracelet has a lot of detail for such shallow carving. He added that the thinness of the metal requires the carver to execute the designs shallowly. It was observed that the silver was hammered very thin. Christian suggested that the double lines in the design may have been inspired by the work of Charles Edenshaw. Ruth Cladstone Davies and Christian White proposed that the three silver bracelets in the collection were carved by three different artists. Candace Weir discussed the clasp mechanism on this bracelet and noted that her husband, Christian White, has made a few bracelets for young girls with clasps so that the bracelets do not come off as easily. Delegates commented on the thinness of the older bracelets in comparison to the thicker ones made today. A discussion of bracelets can be viewed on Tape 6, time 8:15, 9:55 and 17:45 and Tape 7, time 27:20, which can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 12/05/2010]

Item History

With an account, you can ask other users a question about this item. Request an Account

With an account, you can submit information about this item and have it visible to all users and institutions on the RRN. Request an Account

Similar Items