Notes

PEALE DESCRIPTION: "BELTS MADE OF SHELLS (DENTALIUM) USED AS CURRENCY BY THE NATIVES OF THE NORTH WEST COAST OF AMERICA. PRESENTED BY THE OFFICERS OF THE HON. H.B. [Hudson's Bay] COMPANY."Old 19th century or early 20th century exhibit label with card: "Belt - Dentalium indianorum strung on eight strings, which are held together in a band by being rove through strips of buckskin at intervals of each length of the shells. Indians of Northwest Coast. Length 3 ft. 8 ins. Width, 2 1/4 ins. N.W. Coast of N. America, 1841."Illus. p. 234 and described p. 234 and p. 381 in Gilman, Carolyn. 2003. Lewis and Clark across the divide. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. Identified there as likely acquired by U.S. Exploring Expedition at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.Belt made of dentalium shells strung together on natural fiber cord with leather spacers between the 27 sections.