Bear Claw Necklace
date: label: Accession Date
content: 31 Dec 1867
name: label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Department Of War
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ORIGINALLY CALLED "BELT OF BEAR'S CLAWS". EXCHANGE - MR. EDWARD LOVETT, ESQUIRE 41 ONTRAM ROAD, CROYDON, ENGLAND FEB 12, 1906. OLD [19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT] LABEL: "TWENTY-SIX BEAR'S CLAWS, PIERCED WITH HOLES AT ROOT AND IN MIDDLE AND STRUNG ALTERNATELY WITH SECTIONS OF BLUE GLASS BEADS, FOUR IN EACH SECTION. AT EACH END OF STRING ARE STRIPS OF FUR OF BEAR TIED IN BUNCHES OR BANDS. TOTAL LENGTH, 6 FT. LENGTH OF CLAWS, 5 INS." FOUND IN COLLECTION 8/1978. INVENTORIED 1978."
label: Notes
content: Entered in the orginal ledger catalog as from the War Department with the location given as Missouri R. Valley. Althugh the ledge notes that the item was sent out as an Exchange, a bear claw necklace with this catalog number remains in the collection. However, the necklace does not match the description given in an old (ca. 1900) exhibit label. It consists of 24 claws, not 26 as noted there; it is 30" long, not 6'; the claws range from 4" to 5" in length, not all the 5" noted in the label; and there are no bunches of bear fur tied at each end. The necklace (originally called a belt?) is now incomplete. The upper string holding the claws is now missing, and one loose claw is included under this catalog number. It is possible that the object came apart and a portion of it was sent out in exchange, which the remaining portion was retained by the museum.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Missouri River Valley, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Sioux (Oceti Sakowin)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 67A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E2457-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Necklace
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 2 m
label: Length - Claws
content: 13 cm