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<p>[QUOTE="Taupou, post: 134764, member: 45"]Yes, it's a "tourist" piece. But that term doesn't mean much, and certainly doesn't have any impact on the value of an item. Nearly every basket available on the market today falls, technically, in that category. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the U.S., in fact, it was the "tourist trade" that saved the traditional arts of basket-making, pottery, and weaving. By the end of the 1800s, there was no need to make items like that for actual use, manufactured replacements were available, and in many cases, much more practical. Few people even knew how to make basket, let alone how to find and process the local materials to make it.</p><p><br /></p><p>But when tourists began arriving in the west and southwest in the 1880s, there was an interest in taking home a reminder of the trip, and the demand for Indian baskets, Navajo weaving, and pueblo pottery outpaced the supply of those traditional items. Supplying that demand led to people learning those skills from their elders who still were able to create those items, and provided a vital source of income as well. </p><p><br /></p><p>Some of the creations were copies or reproductions of old styles (but usually much smaller than the originals, so they would be easier to take home) but others were artistic innovations that had little connection with traditional forms or styles...but they sold well, so were quickly adopted (pottery "wedding" vases, "rain gods", story-tellers...Navajo rugs...Makah trinket baskets, for example.) None of those would exist if it were not for the "tourist trade."</p><p><br /></p><p>I just got back from a trip through eight states in the Southwest, a highlight was checking out baskets in the vault in a Carson City museum. Made by Louisa Keyser (Dat-so-la-lee) for the tourist trade in the early 1900s, at least three of them were appraised at over $1,000,000, <u>each</u>.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Taupou, post: 134764, member: 45"]Yes, it's a "tourist" piece. But that term doesn't mean much, and certainly doesn't have any impact on the value of an item. Nearly every basket available on the market today falls, technically, in that category. In the U.S., in fact, it was the "tourist trade" that saved the traditional arts of basket-making, pottery, and weaving. By the end of the 1800s, there was no need to make items like that for actual use, manufactured replacements were available, and in many cases, much more practical. Few people even knew how to make basket, let alone how to find and process the local materials to make it. But when tourists began arriving in the west and southwest in the 1880s, there was an interest in taking home a reminder of the trip, and the demand for Indian baskets, Navajo weaving, and pueblo pottery outpaced the supply of those traditional items. Supplying that demand led to people learning those skills from their elders who still were able to create those items, and provided a vital source of income as well. Some of the creations were copies or reproductions of old styles (but usually much smaller than the originals, so they would be easier to take home) but others were artistic innovations that had little connection with traditional forms or styles...but they sold well, so were quickly adopted (pottery "wedding" vases, "rain gods", story-tellers...Navajo rugs...Makah trinket baskets, for example.) None of those would exist if it were not for the "tourist trade." I just got back from a trip through eight states in the Southwest, a highlight was checking out baskets in the vault in a Carson City museum. Made by Louisa Keyser (Dat-so-la-lee) for the tourist trade in the early 1900s, at least three of them were appraised at over $1,000,000, [U]each[/U].[/QUOTE]
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