Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, California, United States, North America
Accession Date:
24 Feb 1920
Notes:
From card: "Coiled weave. ... [Shell beads] woven in with basket thread. Feathers: Red - Melanerphes formacivrus [acorn woodpecker]; Black - Lophortyx californicus [Calif. quail]. Wampum [sic, i.e. shell beads] made from shells not used for many years. 15 stitches and 6 coils to the inch. A bowl - Information given me by Miss O'Hara - 'This basket was owned by an old Spanish family in Santa Clara and far antedates the oldest of them.' - A smaller and inferior basket is in the British Museum taken there from California by Sir Francis Drake [who was in California in 1579]. Coiled weave with Olivella biblicata beads and feathers from the Acorn Woodpecker and the Calif. Quail. Very Rare. ..." Cont. ... see card for photo of basket, etc..
Per Linda Yamane, Ohlone basketweaver, 5 Nov. 2009, foundation material is peeled shoots of willow, and weaving material is sedge rhizomes, split and peeled.
