Basket help

I found this basket at an estate sale and can't ID it. Maybe Native? Maybe African? It's old for sure, as the dust inside it attests, and it's dry and fragile.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

(I'm in the Northwest US, btw.)

Thanks!

 

It's a Native American coiled basket, with an imbricated design, from the Pacific Nortwest. It may be difficult to positively identify the specific tribe, since many nearby tribes used similar materials and techniques. However, the oval start, rather than a round start, indicates it is from a western Washington tribe, rather than a plateau tribe.

 

Thank you as always! Truly.

 

i'd say Coast Salish.....is accurate and as close as you'd get to any one tribe..

 

That certainly looks spot-on. Similar stitches and patina / color.

Thank you for the help!

 

Just saw the "h" was left out in my previous post, and should have said "Pacific Northwest," but I think most people got the idea.

I probably could/should have used "Coast Salish" as Komo did. But "Coast Salish" isn't a tribe, it's a group of culturally and linguistically related tribes, over 80 individual tribes, from British Columbia to Oregon. In other words, the Pacific Northwest.

Arthur Erickson, in Woven History, North American Basketry, explains one of the main ways of determining the source of similar baskets like this, is by the distinction between a round and an oblong start. The oblong start is associated with western Washington tribes, when it comes to coiled and imbricated baskets. I was just trying to narrow it down a little.

Coast Salish is a little broader category than western Washington, but it still is an indication that the specific tribe is difficult to determine, unless one knows who the weaver definitely was.

 

I did not mean to suggest that the Coast Salish is a tribe....
as I said...
"as close as you'd get to any one tribe.."
meaning there are many Coast Salish tribes....

I'll continue to try and be more clear with my reply's..

 

I appreciate 'em all!

I'll add that I have encountered the phrase Coast Salish to refer to a wide range of older baskets, made from many different materials, including raffia ones made by Arts and Crafts hobbyists using kits.

 

those raffia attributions were in error...

 

Komo, my post wasn't directed at all toward you! I just wanted those who weren't familiar with the topic or the terms, to know that (despite what some internet sites say) Coast Salish is a not a tribe.

 

Interesting and polite discussion; illustrates the difficulty in knowing exactly how to phrase an attribution.
Likely stems from the fact that in the majority of cases, the Native American or First Nations groups did not actually use the word "tribe" or anything that could easily be translated as "tribe." Scholars have tried to invent words to use; but in most cases, that just added to the confusion. Like "moiety;" for example....maybe better than "tribe" but not much, and even less understandable to a lay person. Or the academics would group indigenous people by linguistic factors alone....
Often, a people's name for themselves would translate simply as "Us," or "the People." And the idea of "tribe" just didn't come into it.
They knew who they were, and knew who the people in the next village were; who was an outsider and who was not; and the particular words never mattered much until academics tried to classify people into groups they could understand.
And many times, the indigenous people referred to would protest that the groupings did not make sense to them; were not the right names, and were to some extent even insulting.
As if one were to say "Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman....that's all the same thing, right?"
But the discussion of "Coast Salish" is spot on, IMHO.

 

& just fer shits & giggles.........the Interior Salish....made similar....but different looking baskets !!!

The Interior Salish peoples include the Lillooet (or Lil’wat, see also Lillooet, British Columbia), Shuswap (now Secwepemc), Thompson (now Nlaka'pamux), Sinixt and Okanagan (Syilx) First Nations. These First Nations occupy territory in the interior of British Columbia(although some territory extends into the state of Washington in the United States). They speak languages belonging to the Interior Salish division of the Salishan language family.

 

The Quinault and Chehalis did begin using imported raffia in some of their baskets in the early 20th century. The Quinault "incorporated raffia into their twined weaving...and also began to weave a style of coiled basket with a thick bundle coil stitched with raffia. These coiled baskets were round or oval, usually low, often with a high thick handle."
Arthur Erickson: "Baskets of Western Washington", in Woven History: Native American Basketry, ed. by Julie Daly. Clark County Historical Museum, Vancouver, WA., 2004. ISBN 0-615-12619-7

 

Fake news.....heehehehe!!!