REMARKS:
Nose ornaments of various types were commonly seen on Alutiiq men and women in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  In 1790, Carl Heinrich Merck, a naturalist with a Russian scientific expedition, described the use of nose ornaments among women on Kodiak Island:

"They usually wear garnets [beads] through the cartilage of the nose.  These garnets are tied to three firm rows of thin little pieces of wood.  In the middle where the wood sits in the cartilage, there it is covered with gut.  From there it protrudes about 1 1/2 inches to both sides, bending downward a little.  The garnet is blue or white with white or blue ends ....  They call this ornament Maidett" (Merck 1980:103).

The nosepin acquired by Fisher consists of black, white and blue beads strung on copper wire to provide shape and may actually be from the Dena'ina people. Similiar designs were used among the Alutiit.

-Dee Hunt

COLLECTOR'S DOCUMENTATION:
"Generally made out of two Dentalium dentalis shells, which are priced very high by these natives and are preferred in payment to money."

-William Fisher

CATALOG NUMBER:

72484

OBJECT TYPE:

beaded nose ornament

ACCESSION NO.:

12209 (1882)

YEAR COLLECTED:

1879-1882

FIELD NUMBER:

21

GROUP NAME:

Nanwarpagmiut

GROUP NAME RECORDED BY FISHER:

NANUACHPACHMIUTE TRIBE

LOCATION:

Near Iliamna Bay, Alaska Peninsula (Nanwarpak= Lake Iliamna)

LOCATION RECORDED BY FISHER:

ALASKA PENNA. NEAR ILIAMNA BAY

NATIVE LANGUAGE TERM:

see "remarks" above

NATIVE LANGUAGE TERM RECORDED BY FISHER:

no data

DIMENSIONS:

L=12 cm