Northwest Coast Whale Bone Figural Dagger

Northwest Coast whale bone figural dagger. Cord wrapped handle, metal guard, handle incised iwht traditional decoration, and inset abalone eyes. Whale bone daggers were a popular item in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in curio shops in Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria. Many of these daggers were carved by Nuu-chah-nulth and Makah artists who were skilled in whalebone carving and also created whalebone masks, model poles, and fish clubs for the curio art market. This dagger depicts a Killer Whale Dorsal Fin with a Human Face, a crest typically associated with Tlingit culture. Curio shop owners would often provide local Nuu-chah-nulth, Makah, and Coast Salish artists with art books that showed more northern Tlingit and Haida objects that would be more marketable to copy, and that may be the origin of this dagger. 19 1/4" x 2 1/4"