Basketry covered abalone shell. Large abalone shell is iridescent on the interior, with 4 perforations in the bottom under the rim. It is fully covered on the exterior by a piece of tightly woven basketry that closely takes its shape, and fits around the shell’s rim. Images of whales and birds, and concentric lines on rim and at bottom centre are woven into the basketry.

Basketry covered abalone shell. Large abalone shell (part b) is rough on the outside, smooth and iridescent on the inside, with 5 perforations in the bottom under the rim. It is fully covered on the exterior by a piece of tightly woven basketry (part a) that closely takes its shape. Images woven into the basketry include Canadian Plains style headdresses, ducks, and fish. The interior of the basket has many long end remnants resulting from the weaving process.

String puppet (marioneta) of the character Neptune with carved wood face, a pointed beard tipped with a painted shell, pink lips, a long nose, black plastic eyes, sharply defined brow, short forehead and prominent ears. Small shells cover the scalp. A thin wooden stick protrudes from the back of the head and is the only method of controlling the puppet. Puppet’s torso is paper mache. Arms and hands are wood. Torso and arms are covered by decoupage in patterns coloured blue and red, while hands are painted light blue. The creature’s bottom is made entirely of thin, white, flowing plastic sheeting. A long blue cape attaches at the shoulder and hip by a beaded cross-chest belt and falls the length of the plastic bottom. Puppet’s hands and face are delicately carved and detailed. The trident (part b) is aluminum, with a long staff and three pronged head. The whole is wrapped with brass wire, with clear beads threaded on intermittently. Each prong is topped by a gold triangle.

Gift of Jerome Furman

Horn spoon with deeply carved designs on handle. Bowl has incised linear design on top and a crosshatched and carved design on the bottom, near the handle. The bowl had five circular abalone inlay elements (three have fallen out) and the handle has three-dimensional carved designs and abalone inlay (one or two inlay pieces are missing). The tip of the handle is broken.

Necklace of cowrie shells with a gourd pendant. A double line of cowrie shells makes up the majority of the chain, strung on plastic fishing line. At the bottom are three pairs of shells interspersed with three strands of plastic beads in black red and white. A small brown gourd hangs below this, covered in a loosely woven covering of raffia, with a raffia tassel hanging below. The gourd is embellished with three evenly spaced decorations of a cowrie shell surrounded by a circle of beads.

Staff made of thick, stiff strands of dried grass, wrapped with raffia in an open weave to make up the handle. From the bottom protrudes a tuft of raffia, wrapped with a band of woven white fabric and grey plastic twine. Two circular patches of raffia are attached close to the base, topped with cowrie shells arranged in a flower motif. The top of the staff is covered in unbleached cotton, edged with two kinds of braided synthetic banding. Attached to the cotton are three small gourd rattles, also wrapped in open raffia weaving, each with a single cowrie shell and plastic bead decoration. Three lines of cowrie shells are glued to the cotton between the gourds.

Filá headdress. Gourd headpiece, with hanging raffia cover. The half gourd is decorated with lace around its rim and across to the top centre where it wraps around a protruding lip. On the body between the strips of lace are woven circles of raffia beneath flower shaped arrangements of cowrie shells and plastic beads. Out the top protrusion emerges a stiff tuft of raffia held together by a wrap of grey plastic twine. From the lower rim of the gourd hang thick, metre long strands of raffia, entirely encircling the headdress so that the fringe hangs down evenly over the wearer’s front and back.

Pearly queen costume hat. Black wool hat with a wide brim, edged top and bottom with white plastic buttons sewn on with black thread. An upright triangular panel at front holds different sized white buttons, surrounding one of gold and pink-grey abalone. The crown of the hat is covered with a mass of long white and black ostrich(?) feathers that trail slightly down the back. The interior of the hat is dark burgundy wool, undecorated.

Pearly queen costume skirt. Skirt is knee length, black, with rear waist zipper closure and single kick pleat at back. Skirt is heavily decorated with white buttons made primarily of plastic, sewn on with black thread. The buttons are similar in size and patterned in horizontal lines of three rows interspersed with connected diamond shapes. Inside the diamonds of every other row are large round abalone buttons. The waist band is decorated with interspersed abalone buttons and smaller round or square plastic buttons. The top back of the skirt is undecorated. The kick pleat is also patterned with buttons, and a single heart at bottom centre. The interior of the skirt has a black polyester lining.