Tlingit Raven Design Halibut Hook

Northwest Coast Tlingit carved effigy halibut hook, raven design. Circa 1890-1910. Comes with pen and ink drawing of same that was published. 10" x 5" Northwest Coast two-piece halibut hooks are a marvel of Indigenous technology. To make these complex hooks, two pieces of wood of different types are hafted together into a “V-shape.” The bottom side of the hook is carved into a figure or crest before being joined. Once properly placed, the two halves are secured using pitch and spruce roots (on earlier examples) or seining twine and resin (on later hooks). A barb of ivory, bone, or steel is secured at an angle using spruce root or cordage to the side opposite the figure and is baited by tying a squid or oil-rich fish to the barb with string. The open side of the hook can also be adjusted to target different sizes of halibut by sliding the point of the barb further into or out of the hook. When in use, the hook is tied to a ground line and a series of floats and weights and thrown overboard, the different densities of the two wood pieces and the fatty bait creating a buoyancy that allows the hook to float up from the seafloor, figural side down. Regular usage of these hooks wears them down over time, resulting in a loss of wood where the halibut strike and through the regular cycle of soaking in salt water and drying, which impacts the buoyancy and the stability of the hook itself over the course of its life. This older hook, which likely dates to the late-19th or early 20th centuries, shows a lot of wear from usage. Just like with fishing lures today, “lucky” Halibut hooks that caught a lot of fish were prized possessions and would be repaired and maintained over time and were even passed down within families. This hook’s mixture of older (spruce roots for hafting and rope) and newer components (iron nail, cordage) indicates that it was also maintained and used over a long period of time and was probably a very successful and well-loved hook. The figure depicted on this hook is Raven, with his characteristic long, straight beak, ears, and rudimentary formline wing and tail elements etched in. Thanks to efforts by artists and organizations such as Sealaska Heritage Institute, in Juneau, Alaska, there has been a revival of the usage of these customary hooks in Tlingit and Haida communities in Southeastern Alaska in the last ten years.