Notes

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.Provenience note: collection apparently purchased or collected by McLean in Sitka and vicinity circa 1884.From card: "Cut from the solid, stylistically carved, and provided on reverse with one-quarter deep cut vertical grooves at one inch intervals, permitting bending to almost complete oval. Reverse also excavated for nose conformity and slotted at eye level for vision. Perforated for breathing just below nose excavation and for mouth support (basketry pad in mouth. Carved fluting at top.) See: "Primitive American Armor", by Walter Hough, Report, U.S.N.M., 1893, pp. 625-651. Illus: The Spirit Sings catalogue, Glenbow-Alberta Inst., 1987, #N105, p. 156. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 13 top right, pg. 281. Illus. in USNM AR, 1888, Pl. XIV, fig. 50, p. 270. Loan Glenbow Nov 13, 1987, loan returned Nov 25 1988. Black and white negative numbers: 43230C (front); 43230D (top), 43230E (right side)."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=610 , retrieved 1-5-2012: Armor collar This wooden collar fit beneath a warrior's helmet to cover and protect his face and neck. Notches at the top allowed him to see out, and a small round hole in the center was provided for breathing. Inside the collar is a spruce root loop that he gripped in his teeth. To make this collar a craftsman first shaped a piece of hard spruce burl into a plank, then scored it with parallel grooves and bent it in a circle. Crest designs are carved on the front.