Haida Canoe

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shipstamps
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Haida Canoe

Post by shipstamps » Tue Nov 11, 2008 8:33 am


, Here we have another unusual native canoe, a ceremonial canoe of the Haidas, a North west Indian tribe, the stamp being based on a display in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. This sea-going canoe, 64 ft long, was made by hollowing out a spruce tree. The figures in the canoe represent a Tlingit chief and his party on the way to a marriage ceremony. This stamp is to be issued on May 6th 1970.
SG1379 Sea Breezes 5/70

aukepalmhof
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Re: Haida Canoe

Post by aukepalmhof » Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:08 am

The canoe depict on this USA stamp is a permanent exhibit in the New York’s Museum of Natural History.

The museum gives: This is an outstanding example of the exceptional canoe-building skills of the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.
The Haida, who are native to the Queen Charlotte Islands off British Columbia, built the sixty-three-foot long seaworthy canoe in 1878.
Canoes were an essential part of life for the Indians of this area, and were used for traveling to ceremonies, for trade, and for war.
In this display created in 1910 by George T. Emmons, who explored the Northwest Coast for the Museum, the Indians are depicted arriving at a potlatch – a grand ceremonial feast. The two men with long poles at the front, as well as the paddlers on the sides, are captured slaves.

The Haida Canoe was carved from a single piece of wood, the trunk of a large cedar tree. Although the trunk was only eight feet in diameter, the shipwrights softened it with boiling water and widened it to make the canoe eight-and one-half feet wide.
The front of the canoe is decorated with a carving of a wolf and a painting of a killer whale. The carved decoration is more typical of the Bella Bella Indians than the Haida, and implies that the canoe was sold to a Bella Bella chief, who added his own embellishments.
No matter who is responsible for its individual components, the Haida Canoe is a masterpiece of artistry and virtuoso building, and remains one of the Museum’s most popular exhibits.

Source: copied from http:/www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Haida_Canoe/canoe.html?50


The HAIDA CANOE was built by the native Haida Indians of the Pacific Northwest, who are living at the Queen Charlotte Islands off British Columbia.
The canoe was carved from a single piece of wood, the trunk of the giant red cedars of the Pacific coast. The canoe was used for travelling to ceremonies, trade and war.
Characterized by their raised projected bow and stern pieces.
The canoes were magnificently decorated with hereditary crest designs.
To make the canoe wider, the shipwrights put boiling water in the all holed out trunk to make the wood softer so they could make the canoe wider.

Canada 1989 38c sg1316, scott1230.
USA 1970 6c sg1379, scott1389.

Source: Canada post Corp. Commemorative Stamp Bulletin. Various web-sites.
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1970 Tlingit-Chief-in-Haida-Ceremonial-Canoe.jpg

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