Extremely Fine 1870s-80s Macah Nootka Bear Grass and Cedar Bark Basket with Indigo Design (Some Damage) shop keeper (More below)

(More below)

(Knitting remaining golden

One clean break in the cut paper design

Feels quite like a portrait of a specific relationship

--I presume the woman at left meant to be a spirit and the woman at right to be of the living

Extremely Fine 1870s-80s Macah Nootka Bear Grass and Cedar Bark Basket with Indigo Design (Some Damage) shop keeper (More below)This is the finest Makah Nookta, Native American of the Northwest coast, I have ever had in my possession, and I have handled a fair number and looked at many more than that. Hard to judge scale from photos I know, but the weave here is just impossibly tiny and tight. Stunning. And the banded patterns show the most lovely soft indigo blue; the original more intense purple is visible on the interior. 1870s 80s; there is a very good section on the Burke