North West Coast? Mask and 'Mask'.

Thank you so much for sharing!
Absolutely beautiful collection.
Your display is mesmerizing.....
I can't stop scrolling back to see the photos.

 

I saved them to my pc.....I can look anytime now....

 

my pleasure....

 

It's one of my most cherished works......because it's so classic....big and heavy with clean lines ...and mostly because I've used it so many times to explain the art form and culture to others & how this artist goes above and beyond what he needs to do....to a place where it's what he has to do.

Even though it sits flat on a table...or even hung flat on a wall.....you'd figure that the bottom would just be left uncarved and painted black........but.....



he didn't stop there..!!!!

 

I like that, it is like Charles Loloma (Hopi) bracelets which are also inlaid on the inside. I had the honour of wearing one once, for a show, had to give it back though.
You'd have to display your raven bowl on a glass stand to do it justice really.

 

did u hang the Loloma around your neck.....to show off the inside ?
No...likely not.....but the fact that the extra work is there...and can be viewed is what's really important.

but a glass stand would be nice..!

 

No, I kept having to take the bracelet off to show prospective customers. I think he should have let me keep it for my trouble.

 

that would have involved....a LOT of trouble !!!!!
hehehe!!!!!!

 

Yeah, the bracelet was about 4000 Deutschmarks, which was a lot of money at the time, ca. 1980. I didn't really do that much, and wearing such a beautiful bracelet was wonderful.
I occasionally worked for a German gallery specialized in Native American jewellery. Charles was on one of his world tours. I showed him and his niece and her husband around, we got on well. He even proposed to me, but that would have ended in tears.

 

Fantastic piece, thanks for the photos

 

Komo is of course 100% correct. I could add that I've only seen the copper details on Indonesian items relatively recently; but I don't get around as much as Komo. A couple years back I noticed that masks and bowls otherwise identical to the previous batch of Indonesian items had started to appear around Seattle and online with copper embellishments.

Yes, and I've seen a rather large fake mask done in what was unquestionably red cedar. Do they ship it from the US to Indonesia and then back? Possibly....around 2004 the Indonesians had a scheme where they would illegally obtain real ivory from Alaska and Canada, ship it to Indonesia to be carved into fake NW coast native items, then ship it back to Alaska for sale.

 

I've seen those ivories , but since I myself can not offer proof other than..." I know they were not carved here ! " ...I usually hold my tongue...!

...either some cedar gets shipped there...of there's a carver or two from Bali.....employed here !!

 

I've saved a link on my other PC, an official statement from the US Fish and Wildlife folks, or at least quoting such a release. I'll have to find it and see if it is still an active link.
They broke up the ring of criminals, and confiscated a huge amount of ivory, illegally obtained in Alaska, which was in Indonesia to be carved before being returned to the US to be misrepresented as native work.
One of the most interesting aspects is that they also confiscated 10,000 small bone carvings which were otherwise legal, and because those were not contraband they auctioned them off: "harpoons, birds, eagles, eagle claws, bears, bear skulls, waves, fishhooks, wolf heads, antlers and walrus..."
I strongly suspect that these would have been sold in lots to middlemen, and that they shortly appeared on ebay and elsewhere as the Indonesian bone carvings that we've both seen represented as Alaskan, Eskimo, Canadian......

 

Here it is....a listing for the 2005 auction, posted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:
"The to-be-auctioned materials were included in a collection of wildlife and non-wildlife items, including products crafted from rare, endangered, and threatened species, which was smuggled into the United States by a dealer in animal products. This dealer also unlawfully removed old ivory and bones from federal lands in northern Alaska, which were then exported and carved in Indonesia. As a result of those violations the entire collection was forfeited to the United States government. Proceeds from this auction will serve two purposes: They will be used to reimburse victims who unknowingly purchased stolen mammoth ivory carvings from the smuggler, and to reimburse an account designated to fund the storage of wildlife evidence and the payment of rewards for those furnishing information to combat wildlife crime."

"In addition, the collection includes more than 10,000 carved cow bone amulet pendants carved into various shapes, including harpoons, birds, eagles, eagle claws, bears, bear skulls, waves, fishhooks wolf heads, antlers and walrus."
(The animal called a cow in Indonesia is more like what most people would call a water buffalo; leading to the fact that on ebay anything sold as a buffalo bone carving is almost certainly made from Indonesian cow-bone.)

https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?newsId=3728CDF1-65BF-03E7-2EB6B9419ABFC5C1

 

Thank you Judy.....
but now I see that google saved them to Google....
& my personal space can be now viewed at will.....by the masses....

boy.....was I that naive in 2017.............

guess so !

 

Life on the web isn't easy, so much to think about.

 

maybe back then I was too quick to post personal pics to show who I was and what I do , to help validate what I know......

it bites.....

several of those items have recently sold, and one is coming up at auction soon....
I can only wonder if savy collectors have found these pics on the web??