Rattle

Unknown

ca. 1890 · Copper, wood, tanned leather, abalone shell, and horn · The American Wing

Shaped within a hollowed wood form, the double sides of this rattle were joined together with copper rivets and designed to emulate traditional rattles made of wood. During the late 1890s Klondike Gold Rush in Skagway, Alaska, a cottage industry grew to serve travelers interested in carvings and metalwork made by Indigenous Alaskans. Native coppersmiths produced masks, daggers, and rattles such as this one.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1890

Medium

Copper, wood, tanned leather, abalone shell, and horn

Culture

Tlingit, Native American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Promised Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker