Alfred W. Jenkins Fund

Bequest of Porter Hoagland

FROM CARD: "LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.59, P. 58. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993."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=525, retrieved 4-24-2012: Nose ornament or nose ring, Tsimshian. High ranking men wore abalone shell nose pendants like this one. As young boys they received nasal perforations to hold pendants or pins, while girls had their lower lips pierced for labrets. Most abalone shell (also called haliotis) was acquired in trade from coastal tribes to the south, in exchange for eulachon oil, blankets, and spoons that the Tsimshian carved from the horns of wild goats and sheep.