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Description

Wooden halibut hook with iron barb bound with cedar bark and string. [CAK 29/06/2009]

Longer Description

Wooden halibut hook with iron barb bound with cedar bark and string. Carved and formed from a single piece of wood, the hook is U-shaped with curved ends, one of which has a more pronounced curve than the other. A slender iron barb is positioned on one side of the less-curved end, pointing at an angle toward the other arm. It has been lashed on with strips of cedar bark and thin string. The string has been loosely wrapped around the width of the hook across the portion with the barb. The more-curved end is wrapped with strips of cedar bark and the very tip is also wrapped with thin string. A length of cord or thick string has been loosely knotted around the hook and its ends tied together. The wood of the hook is smooth and plainly carved. [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. Christian White described this hook as being used to catch small halibut, although other delegates identified this as a cod hook. [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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