Collections

Sheath

Other name(s): 
case,
Collection ID: 
L1991.15.2
Collection: 
Social history

One of a pair of bark comb or spectacle cases embroidered with porcupine quill.  Small birch bark containers embroidered with dyed moose hair were made for sale by First Nations people in many parts of Eastern Canada.  Attractive and light to carry, they were popular souviners.  Stylistically, these two spectacle or comb case date to the 1860s, and so they could have been sent as gifts to the Watt family in Stromness by James Stewart Watt and his wife Flora, who retired to Montreal, or were bought by William Watt during a visit to the city in the 1860s. 

1 of a pair of sheath cases made of bark embroidered with porcupine quill work


Keywords
Hudson's Bay Company
porcupine
Cree
Embroidery