Description

Wide silver bracelet incised with beaver design. [CAK 22/06/2009]

Longer Description

Wide silver bracelet incised with beaver design. The bracelet has been formed from a single piece of silver, hammered into an almost complete circle. The bracelet has two clasps to secure it on the wrist. It is narrowest where the clasps are and widens out to provide a larger area for the design. The outside of the bracelet has been carved in its entirety, whereas the inside of the bracelet is smooth and uncarved. The focus of the design is the head of a beaver, visible as two large eyes with ears over top, two large front teeth with decorative elements on either side, two small rounded nostrils above which is a column with two ovals decorated with cross-hatching. The front paws of the beaver can be seen on either side of the mouth. The remainder of the space is decorated with characteristic formline design elements. The very top and bottom edges of the bracelet are decorated with short, parallel incisions, creating a border for the overall design. No initials or makers mark are visible inside the bracelet. [CAK 22/06/2009]

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 bracelet was viewed alongside other items of personal adornment on Friday Sept 11, 2009. Nika Collison confirmed the identity of the animal as a beaver and added that the silver for the bracelet would have come from a silver coin, beaten into shape. Delegates commented on the thinness of the older bracelets in comparison to the thicker ones made today. A discussion of bracelets can be viewed on Tape 6, time 8:15, 9:55 and 17:45 and Tape 7, time 27:20, which can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 12/05/2010]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - 'ARTHUR J. EVANS Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. July [One of] Two engraved silver bracelets, with totemic (?beaver) designs, Haida, British Columbia.

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 9 6 98]

Pitt Rivers Museum label - Silver bracelet HAIDA B. COLUMBIA. dd. A. Evans 1900 [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 28/9/2005]

Written on object - HAIDA, BRIT. COLUMBIA. Pres. by A. EVANS Esq., 1900.25.1 [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 28/9/2005]

Related Documents File - A discussion of bracelets can be viewed on Tape 6, times 8:15, 9:55, and 17:45, and Tape 7, time 27:20 within the Haida Project 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]