Featured Nifty totem spoon

Purchased two silver pieces today for around melt. Can’t say I liked paying that at the new silver prices. Was $14 per ozt when I started buying. Even when it went up into the low $20’s I tried staying around .50 cents per gram as a buyer. One of the newbies is this very funky spoon. I was thinking it was most likely NWC NA but it doesn’t resemble super closely any I’ve seen. Maybe up into Alaska or Inuit territory? The only other NA piece I saw in the home was an Inuit soapstone. Perhaps both items were brought back from the same trip. I could be way off. No markings which isn’t too surprising if it’s what I think it may be. Not sure what I’m seeing animal wise. I thought y’all may get a kick out of it. I was surprised it was still there when I showed up for the final thirty mins of the sale. Actually all of the silver seemed to be. They priced it all around 20-25% over melt initially. Either that scared buyers off or the silver people stayed home today.

Of course if anyone wants to share some wisdom it would be appreciated.

 

Doesn't look NWC to me. Does the top figure have a third eye? The fish looks like a sturgeon to me.

 

The treatment of the eyes on the top figure (a cat?), and the lines inside the ears of both animals, seem at least influenced by traditional NWC form lines.

Sturgeon occur in the Columbia River, and are depicted in some Wasco - Wishram art -

 

https://spoonplanet.com/totem2.html
These people might help.

Mikey

 

It does appear to have a third eye! It definitely doesn’t strike one as for sure NWC. I just can’t imagine what else it is. Bulldogs link in his comment actually seem l show a somewhat similar example with what also looks like a third eye. So maybe a silversmith from that area that just didn’t know, or wasn’t staying within tradition?

 

It does look very cat like. Didn’t know if it was a mammal (likely cat), or mammal crossed with an owl. Great info and example. I’ll leave influence of traditional lines to y’all that know them better. I thought I saw something there that inclined me to lean this way but I couldn’t point out exactly where.

 

Great link! I’ll shoot them an email.

Actually one of the final examples on this page resembles mine closer than any other I’ve seen. It also seems to feature a third eye. Although not as clearly defined as an eye as mine seems to be. Maybe by the same craftsperson even. Some of the lines look quite similar. The pages example looks like a medicine man on top, another human in middle with the third eye type thing maybe, in bird form?, and maybe a pelican on the bottom.

 

Closest I found in Hall's 'Alaska Souvenir Spoons & the Early Curio Trade' (2004):





Regarding the link provided, should keep in mind that despite making a few corrections over the years, that site is riddled with errors - last time I gave the owner some information, he thanked me, stating, "Sometimes I make assumptions which turn out to be false.", and then just made some changes equally nonsensical.


~Cheryl

 

(New) Metlakatla, mentioned in Dragonfly's posted article, is an area I know a great deal about, but I haven't studied their silverwork; my research has been on souvenir totems carved by Tsimshians there from 1920 to the present.

The spoon does reflect NWC motifs, but not very well-done, that is, not following traditional usages. That said, Casper Mather, one of the relatives of Edward Mather, who is mentioned in the article, was noted for his lack of correct usage.
In particular, Casper Mather often used an eye motif on his totempoles and other carvings that was not technically correct - but is very reminiscent of the "third eye" on the spoon. Noting also that the placement of that eye on the forehead of the spoon is one non-traditional aspect, and that Casper often placed his eye motif in non-traditional spots, where an eye would not traditionally be placed.
So I'd say that an attribution of the spoon to Edward Keith Mather is a possibility, perhaps a remote possibility; but I am not really in a position to say anything with certainty.

Comparing the spoon "third eye" with two Casper Mather eye motifs; some of Casper's are more exactly comparable, but I don't have photos available at the moment:

 

And as 2manybooks mentioned, the treatment of the ears is quite NWC, where a technical term would be "U-forms."
A common NWC motif is a bear holding a salmon, and the spoon is perhaps more likely to show a poorly-depicted salmon than a sturgeon. Top figure is possibly a lion; lion of course is not a traditional NWC crest figure, but does appear on NWC silverwork sometimes; native artists were familiar with lions from ship figureheads and other sources.
Also compare this Sitka spoon from the website linked; note the fish (salmon?), eyes, and ears:

 

Interesting that they may have been familiar with lions (presumably African) from European sources like figureheads. I assumed that if it was a cat that it was likely lynx/bobcat or mountain lion inspired. You’re the first to mention the slightly silly looking animal in the middle. A bear holding his fish makes sense. I didn’t really notice that the fish appears to be in its mouth until you mentioned it. Given the naivety of the piece an inaccurate salmon could be as likely as maybe a more accurate sturgeon. I did google it for the hell of it and bear are known to eat sturgeon, particularly during the spawn.

 

One has got to love this page. I don’t think this type of knowledge is getting shared on a dedicated silver page anywhere. I feel lucky to have scored this piece and I’ll make a note of your possible attribution with it. Do any of the Mather wood totems show the naive charm that this spoon does, or are they more traditional?

Edit: also do we know why Casper was including a “third eye”?

 

What a great resource! The niche books published in the modern era are so interesting. I’m slowly putting together a little library of resource books. I can’t imagine most are profitable enterprises but I’m glad folks are dedicated to publishing them. The tidbits of information on the pages in your example are priceless and would otherwise likely be lost to time.

In regards to the link I can see what you’re saying. Helpful to have the images posted at least and to go from there.

 

I think the figures on your spoon (whatever they are) are much better done than the other examples we have seen so far.

 

Most of my reference books are in storage, but I keep around a hundred handy, the majority on silver - despite what some seem to think, not everything can be found online. That book was published by the Gastineau Channel Historical Society in Juneau, a good read with an abundance of images, glad it's in my library...

Just to share - a favorite spoon in my collection:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/silver-tlingit-spoon-by-rudolph-walton.86095/#post-9853971


~Cheryl

 

Online is awesome and fast but you’re surely correct that not everything is yet found here. It’s only been a couple occasions I found an answer in my silver books I couldn’t find online but I was satisfied when it happened. The other things I learned in the books along the way was well worth the admission price. The books can be had pretty cheaply at the estate sales of gold collectors. I’m always tempted to bring home boxes full but try to limit myself to one or two at a time. If I can pickup this Alaska book inexpensively one day I will. I was more photos in a copy for sale on eBay and it looks fantastic.

The piece you got is a doozy! Very cool that it’s dated and identifiable to the silversmith you mentioned. I love a good piece of silver with a date and/or crest on it. The raven is full of character. Where did you find it for sale?

 

It is a long story...in brief, when the lay preacher William Duncan founded Old Metlakatla in what would become Canada, and later brought a group of Tsimshian followers to (New) Metlakatla in 1887, he banned the making of traditional totem poles and dance regalia, but encouraged the making of small items for sale as souvenirs, such as model totempoles and spoons. Those Tsimshian followers thus had a multiple loss of their traditions...they were transplanted from their Tsimshian homeland to a Tlingit area; their traditional practices were banned, and they lost the traditional methods of cultural transmission; young people, even if they had aspirations to be carvers, were not able to apprentice to older uncles or others. They didn't even have nearby full-size totems to use as models.

Casper Mather (1876-1972) grew up without any role models or artists that he could imitate. He knew that there were traditional forms; but he had no training with them. So when he wanted to put traditional forms on his carvings, he kind of had to make them up for himself. He often used an eye-like shape, likely based on traditional shapes now called "ovoids" and placed it on his carvings where he imagined or hoped it might be appropriate. His shape was a rounded rectangle, with a symmetrical eye-like shape in the center.
Below: jpg of traditional ovoid forms; Casper Mather totempole showing at the bottom left one of his eye or ovoid forms. The shape has no meaning in traditional terms, or any reason for being at that spot on the totempole....To put it bluntly, his carvings are not very good in technical terms, but Mather did the best he could considering his lack of formal training. (P.S. Edward Keith Mather was an uncle of Casper Mather)
(More info on the souvenir totem poles from Metlakatla; history, Mather photos... can be found at Metlakatla carvers site map )

 

By way of apology for my off-topic posts, I was just very interested to see mention of Metlakatla and families I was familiar with in Dragonflywink's pasted article. I had not seen that article before. I might note that the article mis-states the founding date of Metlakatla as 1877; it was 1887.

 

For me, the way threads go 'off-topic' is part of the appeal of this group, most good conversation veers into different areas, your posts are related and very interesting. Rather than being a pasted article, the image is a photo of a page in a book I own, one I've found useful for my spoon collection, but like most references, whether in print or online, there are sometimes errors and omissions, and now there's one of my little Post-its noting your correction.

~Cheryl

 

Research online has been amazing for me, often turning up information that would have been difficult to find otherwise, sometimes adding to the info or revealing mistakes in books, but the well-researched, and usually well-written, published references typically go more in depth on their subject, with information gathered in one place. And I just really like books...

Thanks! I'd been keeping an eye out for a Rudolph Walton spoon that fit my budget for over a decade, a raven a particular desire (I've a weakness for corvids, such clever birds) - this one turned up in a Facebook group, the seller knew what it was, and after some friendly negotiation, we were both happy.


~Cheryl