Featured Dogs, sleds, sea mammals.

Was hoping our Inuit specialists might be able to help ID the marks on this one. I purchased a good size collection a few years ago off a social media marketplace. Luckily I was looking at Inuit items at an opportune time. The lady collecting had lived in several villages for stretches and collected many carvings straight from the carvers themselves I am told. Her daughter was selling off most of the collection after she passed. I made an offer on everything remaining and she accepted. Unfortunately a serious collector had picked what they wanted already but I’m not sure they saw everything. Anyways this is one I have photos of. Not sure if it was originally one sled/team or meant to be two. I’m thinking two. I think a lot of the leather likely broke in packing, shipping, and unpacking. The forms are a bit rough but the overall presentation is great looking imo. The larger sled is 7.5” long.

 

2 sleds , definitely look older.

maybe @Mark London , will come out of hidings to help out here !!!!!

 

nice find @J Dagger

 

That would sweet! I got probably 15-20 more in the group. I imagine I’ll have trouble with at least a few. If I had to guess based on woman’s age maybe her mom was traveling up there circa mid 20th century. I can’t be sure though. Some examples could have already been old or they could have all been carved during her day.

 

Thanks bro! I was pleased. They weren’t inexpensive overall but broken down the price per piece was very reasonable for the quality. I listed one I wasn’t super fond of but will keep most, if not all the rest.

 

instant collection....

It's a good story , but as we all know , it's the items themselves that will speak to their history.
The 50's would have been a very young time for Inuit art work.
Alaskan work is very different from Canadian Inuit work.
Buying directly from a carver , you may expect to see his name....but not so much numbers , which were used more when a piece entered the system , once the carvings were sold to the Co-op , or dealer who sent the carvings South.
Also , amassing a large collection of stone carvings , and having to travel with them in remote communities ....... would , at best....not have been easy.

Different communities used different stone .... so some will point to where they came from.
If you would throw up a few more random photo's with marks on them, I may be able to comment further.
& as we all know , sometimes a collection passed from a mother who knows to a daughter who doesn't..... can include items that came from elsewhere..!

Do you have any idea.... where up North , as villages were spread out.. far apart !
and any idea why the mother was up there??

I know pal, a lot to ask , but you know me..... Help us, to help you!!

 

ps, older carvings would most likely be hand sized , and have little to no markings.

 

I love acquiring instant collections. I already had a handful of them and have added a few more, but these ones are superior mostly to what I’ve acquired elsewhere. In a very unfortunate turn of events FB changed their search feature up. It used to be easy to find old conversations on the fb messenger app. I had planned go to back and talk to the daughter more over time to place the story with them better. We talked on the phone before the purchase and she relayed the story but I’ve lost the memory of the details over the years. It’s nearly impossible to pull msg threads from years ago now though. At least for me. I don’t recall where she was exactly or what she was doing. Possibly some type of social work. I do seem to recall she was actually living in villages for stretches though. Over the course of multiple trips or multiple years. So it wasn’t just trying to stuff fifty carvings in her backpack in one shot across the land. In my mind I was thinking 50’s or 60’s as likely but just a guess. If you think 50’s seems unlikely or less likely I believe it. I’m out of town for a while but I’ll likely post more of them over time. It did just occur to me I likely used an e payment provider. Searching back through records may provide a contact that way. You make a lot great points! Thanks

 

have a safe trip !

 

There are definitely a couple pretty big ones. Most aren’t hand sized. So maybe a bit later like you’re thinking. The lady I got them from was at least mid age or older and I thought her mother got them when she was younger but my memory isn’t as great as it used to be. Mostly because I’ve been taking in new information at a rapid rate lately. Aging doesn’t seem to be helping either though.

 

Forgive my delayed response, I don’t check in as frequently these days. The one which is inscribed GWR is by Charlie Sappa (1923-D) from Kuujjuaraapik (which used to be called Great Whale River). The smaller one is most likely by Atoat Akitirq (1935-?) from Ikpiarjuk (formerly known as Arctic Bay). Both are rather banged up and are likely missing a few extra dogs. Likely dates are mid 1960s.