Lot 530
TWO CANADIAN BIRCH CANOE PADDLES
LATE 19TH CENTURY
Fine Furniture and Works of Art
Auction: 5 April 2017 at 11:00 BST
Description
cut from one piece of birch with raised lozenge shaped blade with ink inscription to both sides BABIN & STUART/ LAKES/ D.J.M (for Duncan J. Macpherson of Glentruim), with further inscription FRASER RIVER/ NECHACO RIVER/ STUART RIVER/ COTTONWOOD CANYON/ 1898, and SLAVE LAKE, 189cm long; and a pear shaped paddle of stained and decorated wood, signed BABIN & STUART LAKES, 171cm long (2)
Footnote
Provenance:
Formerly at Glentruim and the Macpherson family, by descent
Note: Duncan Macpherson of Glentruim left his family castle in Newtonmore, Scotland in the 1880s to prospect for gold in British Columbia and spent most of his working life in Canada and a time in Mexico returning to Scotland in later life bringing back souvenirs of his travels. His river adventures and the rivers he traveled are clearly written in ink with his initials and date making a very rare dated paddle possibly of the Athapaskan tribe.
The paddles are from north central British Columbia in the area of the Dakelh. This group has also been called Carrier in the past and is part of the Athapaskan language family. The paddle is also similar to those found among the Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida and Tsimshian indigenous peoples of British Columbia.