This amulet marked with (incorrect?) number 9819

FROM CARD: "LOAN: THE TEXTILE MUSEUM, 4/30/65. 20574 LOANED TO RENWICK 4/29/82. RETURNED 6/1983. FRONTLET WITH TRAILER, CA. 1850-75. HAIDA, OR POSSIBLY TSIMSHIAN INDIANS; FORT SIMPSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA. WOOD, ABALONE INLAY; RED, BLACK, AND GREEN PAINT; SEA-LION WHISKERS; ERMINE SKINS; RED AND WHITE CLOTH; BROWN FELT, SINEW; THREAD; BALEEN STRIPS 51 X 13 1/4 X 7 1/2 (129.5 X 33.7 X 19.1) THE FRONTLET SHOWS A CREST FIGURE THOUGHT TO BE A RAVEN. THE CROWNS OF FRONTLETS WERE FILLED WITH EAGLE DOWN, THE SYMBOL OF THE MANIFESTATION OF SPIRIT POWER IN THE HUMAN WORLD. AS THE DANCER MOVED AND TURNED, THE DOWN FLOATED OUT OF THE HEADPIECE, FILLING THE AIR WITH THE PRESENCE OF SPIRITUAL BENEDICTION." FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: 'HEAD-DRESS - CAP OF FELT, TO WHICH IS ATTACHED IN FRONT A WOODEN MASK CARVED, PAINTED, AND INLAID WITH ABALONE SHELL, AND BEHIND A ROW OF SMALL SKINS OF WHITE ERMINE, PUTORIUS ERMINEA, AND A PENDANT BAND OF COTTON SHEETING LINED WITH ROWS OF ERMINE SKINS. AROUND EDGE OF CAP IS A ROW OF LONG SPINES OR WHISKERS OF SEA-LION. WORN IN DANCING BY NASSE [Nass] INDIANS, FT. SIMPSON. MASKE, 8 1/4 INS. LONG AND 6 1/2 INS. WIDE. LENGTH OF DRESS BEHIND, 40 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1876. COLLECTED BY J.G. SWAN. THE MASK REPRESENTS YEHL, THE RAVEN, ONE OF THE FOUR TOTEMS INTO WHICH THE KOLOSH OR THLINKET STOCK OF INDIANS DIVIDE THEMSELVES. - DALL'S ALASKA AND ITS RESOURCES."

RATTLE TOP: IN THE SHAPE OF A RAVEN, ON ITS BACK A RECUMBENT HUMAN FIGURE SUCKING A FROG'S TONGUE, FROG HELD IN BEAK OF BIRD'S HEAD. RATTLE BOTTOM: HAWK'S HEAD. LEATHER THONGS HOLDING HOLLOW TOP AND BOTTOM TOGETHER. SEEDS INSIDE? CARVINGS PAINTED IN BLACK, RED, GREEN AND BROWN PIGMENTS. SEE ACCESSION FILE FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF 1952-53 RESTORATION BY DONOR. TRIBAL AND LOCATION DESIGNATIONS BY WILSON DUFF, 1969.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=716, retrieved 3-31-2012: Rattle, Tsimshian. During secret society performances chiefs carried raven-shaped rattles that portrayed the transfer of spiritual power from animal beings to people. On Raven's back a crested bird holds a frog in its extended beak, and through its tongue the halaayt of the frog enters and transforms a person or spirit in human form. Raven rattles, used by the Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit, are thought to have been first made by a Tsimshian or Nisga'a artist.

FROM CARD: "HALIOTIS INLAID. ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888, PL. 7, FIG. 23, P. 260."FROM 19TH CENTURY OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "EAR ORNAMENTS.---RED SKEINS OF WOOL, TO WHICH ARE PENDANT TO-TEMS OF CARVED SHELL, HALIOTIS CALIFORNIANUS, INLAID WITH HALIOTIS KAMSCHATKENSIS. WORN BY NASSES [NASS] INDIAN, NEAR FORT SIMPSON. LENGTH, 9 INS. BREADTH, 1 1/2 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1875. 20,674. COLLECTED BY J.G. SWAN."This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=528, retrieved 4-24-2012: Ear ornaments or earrings. Ear ornaments made of yarn and abalone shell were a symbol of nobility. Fathers or uncles hosted potlatches to pierce the ears of their high-born children, nephews, and nieces, and the full measure of prestige was to reach adulthood with four holes on each side. The wise, elderly figure of Mouse Woman appears in Tsimshian sacred histories to offer advice to people in their dealings with supernatural beings. In payment she always asks for the person's wool earrings, which she burns and eats or takes away for lining her nest. Symbolically, ear perforations were connected with hearing, understanding, and wisdom of the kind that Mouse Woman offered.