Distinct ornaments in this style are often called chief's headdresses because only persons of high status customarily wear them. In particular, the heads of noble houses giving potlatches are frequently seen in such garb during welcoming dances and speeches. Before use in a dance, the hollow center of the headdress is filled with bits of eagle down, which scatter about as the wearer moves, symbolizing goodwill toward his guests.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Headdress and carved wooden frontlet with an extensive ermine trailer. The frontlet’s main figure is an eagle with a small bear head and paws below and a wolf(?) head and paws above. The eagle has shell eyes and many abalone decorative inlays around it. Sea lion whiskers project upward from the top of the headdress. The entire upper head area is covered with eaglet skin with the fine down still attached. A long ermine trailer sewn on red cotton hangs below the headpiece. There is an abalone eagle crest attached on the left side.

Headdress frontlet with a wooden bear crest, set within a frame, and painted red, green, and black. The back is unpainted. The frame as well as the bear's eyes, teeth, and paws have inlaid sections of carved abalone shell. Long ermine trailers hang down the back and sea lion whiskers stick out from the top. The headdress would have been worn for a Welcome or Peace Dance. The face's thick, heavy, black eyebrows help to corroborate this attribution. A fistful of eagle down feathers would be placed inside the center of the frontlet. As the chief danced and bowed and greeted his audience, the feathers would float out of his headdress symbolizing peace and friendship. In Tshimshian this was known as Am-halait or "power from the Sky." CONDITION: The object is in fair and stable condition. Special care in handling the piece should be taken for it was treated with arsenic in the past.

Chief's headdress with frontlet carved with a bear and frog and a train with ermine skins. [CAK 10/02/2010]

Chief's headdress with carved frontlet depicting a beaver with bird down and a train of ermine skins. [CAK 11/02/2010]