**Originally Listed At $1000**

Native American, Northwestern United States, Alaska, Inuit, ca. 18th to 19th century CE. A fine whale bone and iron spear or harpoon head with a seal whittled into the bone shaft! The petaloid blade is attached into a slot at the tip of the bone and nailed into place with iron rivets. The slightly curved bone has a pair of drilled perforations near the base for securing a cord that may have acted as a line to reel the spear head back in, or as a wrap to secure the bone to a longer pole, and a hollowed socket made from a separate piece of bone is attached to the base to facilitate another handle. A seal is carved in low relief just above the holes, and tools made by Inuit often contained animalistic forms or symbols to imbue power and strength to the spear and to honor the spirit of the animals taken in the hunt. Before the European introduction of iron, most harpoon and spear heads had sharped stones in the tips as the blade. Size: 14.125" L x 1.75" W (35.9 cm x 4.4 cm)

Provenance: ex-Dr. Goldberg collection, Virginia, USA, before 2000

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#170119

Russet patina on blade and stable pressure fissures radiating from rivets. Natural ossification and pitting of the bone with black striations throughout, otherwise intact and very good.