Featured Basket Collection

Hello All,
My name is Patrick I am new here.

I inherited a portion of what was once a large collection of baskets that my grandfather assembled. The original collection had ~ 200 baskets and was later dispersed. I'm trying to identify and document the remaining baskets. I'll attach some pictures of one of the baskets. It's about 16" in diameter.

Any ideas of where to learn more about these?
Thanks,
-Patrick

 

These folks are a great start for recommendations- @komokwa @2manybooks @Taupou @Potteryplease

PS- Sorry if I forgot anyone.

 

Looks to me that that label tells you who made it: Chemehuevi and a date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemehuevi

The name 'Harvey' is interesting and may indicate that it was once part of a collection of a famous railroad businessman who helped Native people sell hand-made items to train-based tourists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Harvey_(entrepreneur)

Do you know anything about the name Harvey?

 

Thank you for the reply. Many of the baskets have similar notes that appear to be where/when the basket was acquired and some other coded info - like the "DO/". I don't know anything else about "Harvey Collection". Presumably that's where this basket came from.

 

The name under the date on this one may be the weaver.

If your others have similar notation: date, tribal affiliation, and perhaps even the weaver, then you have way more info than is usually found on vintage / antique Native American baskets.

 

The Heard Museum
Fred Harvey fine arts collection
The Comstock Collection
Holabird western Americana collections

.....are all worth researching , where this baskets attributions are concerned.
.....the numbers written on the basket itself , may be catalog , or specific collection ID numbers.
There's no way to know for certain , unless a similar numbering scheme can be found and documented.

A wonderful basket in mint condition...!!!
Sweeeeet !

As for your other baskets , they may have been collected from a manner of different venues , and time frames.

 

From the Wiki page:

The Chemehuevi made intricately coiled baskets using a three-rod foundation of willow. Traditionally, the majority of weaving was completed with split willow, and darker patterns were made with devil's claw and yucca, among other materials.[19] This traditional style of basketmaking is currently practiced by a small group of weavers

 

FYI..... AI , seems to think this is an African basket.

Silly AI....... It's likely not yet amassed a proper database on 1st Nations baskets , so old school detective work is still required here..!!

 

It's possible that , that attribution may be suspect... ... or not..

 

Garland's.......

search

 

I would start by trying to understand the notations you find on the baskets. If your grandfather went to the trouble of attaching notes, he may have also kept a ledger that would explain his abbreviations, and perhaps provide additional information about each basket. Do you or other family members have any of his papers?

Do all of your baskets have catalog numbers that look like this one?


If they do, they may be your grandfather's system. If not, they may come from collections originally in museums or other people's collections. Museum catalog numbers can be quite idiosyncratic and might be recognized if you contact likely museums.

However, it does not look like this particular number matches the Heard Museum's Fred Harvey collection of baskets. As an example, the catalog number of a Chemehuevi / Fred Harvey basket currently in their collection follows the format "815BA".
https://cdm16286.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15086coll3/id/77/rec/1

The Heard Museum collection includes baskets that Fred Harvey acquired from an earlier "Comstock collection" as well as from other collectors which might have had a different systems of catalog numbers. But if so, these don't appear to be described in their current catalog entries.
https://heard.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15086coll3/id/69/

But it could be worth contacting the Heard Museum to see if they might have any information about those of your baskets that refer to Fred Harvey. The more information you can provide them, the more likely you are to get a useful response. For example, if you can tell them approximately when your grandfather may have acquired the baskets, they may be able to check their records for baskets deaccessioned around that time.

The Heard's website lists this as the contact for their curatorial department -

https://heard.org/contact-us/

 

Thank you! This is great info

 

Welcome to Antiquers, @RadiantDust !