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: "CEDAR BARK. BELONG TO 2 MASKS NO. 169105-6."

FROM CARD: "2ND NAEK LAGAE OF XANYADGAMGILOS. ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; FIG. 89; P. 455."

Large Haida totem pole carved with crest figures. The pole has an eagle with a damaged beak sitting on top of the potlatch rings of a skil property hat. The rings rest between the ears of an eagle with a projecting beak. On the eagle' s chest is a smaller bird, possibly a young eagle with outstretched wings which overlap the bigger bird' s wings. The curled feet of the bird rest on the head of a thunderbird which has its beak close against its body. In turn the thunderbird rests on a killerwhale with whom it is often associated in myths and on totem poles. The blowhole of the killerwhale is clearly visible together with its dorsal fins. Along the body of the killerwhale are more skil hat potlatch rings, below is a small humanoid face possibly that of the strongman who battled with killerwhales in myth. The set of hands round the rings are possibly those of the killerwhale indicating transformation, more likely though they belong to the strongman. The last figure is a beaver with a chewing stick and cross-hatched tail. The pole is C-shaped in cross- section, having been hollowed-out to lessen the weight and enable it to be raised. The catalogue card records the figures as representing, from the bottom upwards, a beaver, a supernatural being, the only woman' s crest on the pole. Then comes a man used to fill space. Then a cormorant, also crest of man. Then an eagle showing that man belonged to that clan. The three figures on the top of the main pole represent watchmen looking for enemy visitors. Bird on top , an owl. Bushnell added to the catalogue card that alot of the data detailing the representations on the totem pole was clearly wrong and referred to Marius Barbeau' s Totem Poles page 122 as evidence. The confusion over the description could have arisen because it belongs to a pole which CUMAA was going to purchase but instead was sold to a museum in Milwaukee (G.Crowther).; Good