Wooden box [.1] with lid [.2] containing 56 wooden sticks [.3- .58] painted with various red and black designs for use in gambling games. [CAK 09/06/2009]

Collection type: Object
Description: Wooden box [.1] with lid [.2] containing 56 wooden sticks [.3- .58] painted with various red and black designs for use in gambling games. [CAK 09/06/2009]
Long description: Wooden box [.1] with lid [.2] containing 56 wooden sticks [.3- .58] painted with various red and black designs for use in gambling games. The box has been industrially manufactured from thin pieces of wood. The corners have been made by kerfing and bending the wood, with the fourth corner comprised of tightly fitted notches. Some sections of the box have also been glued together. It is unclear whether the box was ever the original container for the gambling sticks. Each stick has been carved from a single piece of wood (perhaps yew?), to the roughly the same length. The ends are slightly rounded, and the sticks themselves are very smooth. Patterns of red and/or black lines and rings decorate the sticks. One stick is undecorated, and one is coloured black on one side. [CAK 09/06/2009]
Geographical reference: Canada
Northern America > North America > Canada; British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
Cultural groups: Haida
Person: Field collector Charles Harrison; PRM source Charles Harrison
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1882-1890
Date collected: Between 1882 and 1890 ?
Acquisition information: Purchased: 02/03/1891
Materials and processes: Material Yew Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Process Carved, Process Painted, Process Glued, Process Kerfed Grooved, Process Pyroengraved Pokerwork
Dimensions: Height: max 66 mm box, Length: max 125 mm stick, Length: max 125 mm box
Object numbers: Accession number: 1891.49.92.1 Accession number: 1891.49.92.2 Accession number: 1891.49.92.3 Accession number: 1891.49.92.4 Accession number: 1891.49.92.5 Accession number: 1891.49.92.6 Accession number: 1891.49.92.7 Accession number: 1891.49.92.8 Accession number: 1891.49.92.9 Accession number: 1891.49.92.10 Accession number: 1891.49.92.11 Accession number: 1891.49.92.12 Accession number: 1891.49.92.13 Accession number: 1891.49.92.14 Accession number: 1891.49.92.15 Accession number: 1891.49.92.16 Accession number: 1891.49.92.17 Accession number: 1891.49.92.18 Accession number: 1891.49.92.19 Accession number: 1891.49.92.20 Accession number: 1891.49.92.21 Accession number: 1891.49.92.22 Accession number: 1891.49.92.23 Accession number: 1891.49.92.24 Accession number: 1891.49.92.25 Accession number: 1891.49.92.26 Accession number: 1891.49.92.27 Accession number: 1891.49.92.28 Accession number: 1891.49.92.29 Accession number: 1891.49.92.30 Accession number: 1891.49.92.31 Accession number: 1891.49.92.32 Accession number: 1891.49.92.33 Accession number: 1891.49.92.34 Accession number: 1891.49.92.35 Accession number: 1891.49.92.36 Accession number: 1891.49.92.37 Accession number: 1891.49.92.38 Accession number: 1891.49.92.39 Accession number: 1891.49.92.40 Accession number: 1891.49.92.41 Accession number: 1891.49.92.42 Accession number: 1891.49.92.43 Accession number: 1891.49.92.44 Accession number: 1891.49.92.45 Accession number: 1891.49.92.46 Accession number: 1891.49.92.47 Accession number: 1891.49.92.48 Accession number: 1891.49.92.49 Accession number: 1891.49.92.50 Accession number: 1891.49.92.51 Accession number: 1891.49.92.52 Accession number: 1891.49.92.53 Accession number: 1891.49.92.54 Accession number: 1891.49.92.55 Accession number: 1891.49.92.56 Accession number: 1891.49.92.57 Accession number: 1891.49.92.58 Other numbers: x
Research and responses: According to one website, "The Grand Trunk Railway in New England" (http://www.sullboat.com/GT_misc1.htm), there was an H. Wesley Hutchins Co. box manufacturing company that appears to be located in Lewiston neighbouring Auburn, Maine (ie, ME). [CAK 09/06/2009]
The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum’s collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This set of sticks was viewed alongside other gambling sets on Monday Sept 14, 2009. Christian White identified the sticks' material as yew wood. Delegates observed that some of the sticks have patterns burned onto them. While most people thought they were gambling sticks, some people suggested they could be counting sticks. Delegates noted that the sticks were not from a single set, but rather they were probably collected over time and added to by the owner. Nika Collison identified distinct sticks and groups of sticks within the set: there were three with a concave tip, one of which was blank; one blank stick with three dots on the end; four short wide sticks; one fatter stick without a cone shaped end; and one longer stick without a cone shaped end. Nika and Billy Yovanovich noted that some of the sticks had subtle marks on the ends, which they posited were done by the owner to act as cheating aids. [CAK 11/05/2010]

Search terms: Toy and Game, Box, Game, Gaming Piece, Lid