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Description

Wooden halibut hook with an iron barb, rounded and flat on one end, and bound with string. [CAK 29/06/2009]

Longer Description

Wooden halibut hook with an iron barb, rounded and flat on one end, and bound with string. The hook is plainly and smoothly carved from a single piece of wood and has been steamed and bent into a U-shape with outward curving ends. One end is more curved and thinner than the other. The thinner end is tightly wrapped with cedar bark and the very tip is also wrapped with thin string. An iron barb with a round, flattened end and pointed tip is positioned on one side of the thicker end such that it points at an angle toward the other arm. It is lashed in place with string. Another length of string (untwisted) is wound around the hook, across the barb. A length of thicker string or cord is loosely knotted around the hook, and its ends tied together. [CAK 29/06/2009]

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 hook was viewed alongside other fish hooks and clubs on Monday, Sept 14, 2009. Two suggestions were put forward for the use of this hook. Christian White proposed it could be used to catch small halibut, while Ruth Gladstone-Davies proposed that it could be used for cod. Candace Weir noted that the Haida words for uncle and halibut are the same: gaagii. She also provided the translation for black cod hook, skil t'aawal. [CAK 04/02/2010]

See Hilary Stewart's book "Indian Fishing: Early methods of the Northwest Coast" (published by Douglas in Vancouver and the University of Washington Press in Seattle in 1977) for information on the construction and use of fish hooks. [CAK 29/06/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - 27 May Stevens' Auction Rooms - Specimens from the collection of the late H.C. Collyer - [1 of] Two wooden halibut hooks with iron barbs, HAIDA, N.W. AMERICA 24/- Pd with packing £2-0-0

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

Written on object - Halibut hook, HAIDA, N.W.A., H.C. Collyer coll., Pur. 27.5.1924. [MJD 02/04/2009]

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]

Item History

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