Description

Amulet comprised of two boar tusks bound in a circular shape with a sea lion tooth suspended on a long piece of string. [CAK 22/06/2009]

Publications History

Possibly referred to on p. 8 of 'Haida Art in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and the Rev. Charles Harrison', by June Bedford, in European Review of Native American Studies, Vol. XII, no. 2 (1998), pp. 1-10. [JC 16 4 1999]

Longer Description

Amulet comprised of two boar tusks bound in a circular shape with a sea lion tooth suspended on a long piece of string. The crescent shaped boar tusks have been perforated at their ends and tied so that their thin ends join together and the wide ends join together. The string binding the tusks has remnants of red pigment. A long string has been looped through the circle formed by the tusks and has a single sea lion tooth suspended from its end. [CAK 22/06/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry: 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - 2 crescentic boar's tusks laced together, to which is attached a pendant of sea-lion's canine tooth, worn as a charm. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110] ' Entered in different hand to all but one previous entries in this collection. Not known why or when. Later, undated and unsigned note: 'If Haida, the boar's tusks must have been obtained from Pacific Island sailors who often formed part of the crews of ships sailing up the N.W. Coast. Cf. Hawaiian ornaments made of walrus ivory.' [JC 4 9 1996]

No additional information on catalogue cards. [JC 4 9 1996]

Written on object - HAIDA C. HARRISON COLL PURCHASED 1891.[on tusk and tooth] [MJD 01/04/2009]

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 amulet was viewed alongside shamanic objects on Friday Sept 11, 2009. Christian White believed the two tusks to be wild pig tusks. See also the records for 1891.49.117 and 1891.49.118 .1-.3, where Christian noted that wild pigs are not native to Haida Gwaii and thus the tusks would have been traded for. [CAK 31/03/2010]