Context (Analysis)
Believed to be a copy or an 'artefake' made by non-Indigenous carvers.
Event Date
Author: Kirsty Kernohan

Description (Physical description)
Totem pole carved with an owl at the base, and topped by raven, next a beaver and lastly at the top a frog, with head downwards.
Event Date
Author: Kirsty Kernohan

Context (Production / use)
Accession register for E 1907.450 reads: 'obtained from Hesuquit near Nootka.' [probably Hesquiat, Kirsty Kernohan 18/12/2023]
Event Date 1907
Author: Kirsty Kernohan

Context (Related Documents)
Gillian Crowther (1996, note E 1907.450) noted that 'The provenance of the pole is missing from the letter to Glaisher in which Stadthagen gives a description of the pole (CUMAA Archive 1, Letters Box 1907).

Event Date 1907
Author: rachel hand

Context (Field collection)
Collected for the Museum by Dr James W. L. Glaisher (1848-1928), Cambridge University Lecturer in Mathematics (1871-1901) and a collector of ceramics and ethnography.
Purchased from Henry Stadthagen (1864-1927), a dealer in ethnographic material in Victoria, British Columbia, together with E 1907.328.
Glaisher visited Victoria in 1907 and purchased several items from Stadthagen which, like E 1907.328 and E 1907.331 appear to be fakes or 'artefakes' as noted by Crowther (1996).
Event Date 1907
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
Accession register for E 1907.450 reads: 'A totem post bearing on the face four deeply carved emblems: at the base a demi-owl; above it a raven; next a beaver; and lastly a frog (head downwards).'
Event Date 1907
Author: maa

Context (Related Documents)
The 1908 Annual Report 1908 the provenance for both E 1907.328 and 450 is "Nootka Indians of the Frog tribe."
Event Date 1908
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
Gillian Crowther also noted that in a letter from Glaisher to von Hugel he noted "I had been informed of the fraud he (Stadthagen) had perpetrated on me for saying that the pole was made by the Haidah Indians"
Letter from Glaisher to Baron Anatole von Hugel in MAA's uncatalogued correspondence boxes, 10 December 1908.


Event Date 10/12/1908
Author: maa

Context (Amendments / updates)
From the correspondence mentioned above and below it would seem the totem poles were made for sale to unsuspecting buyers of ethnographic artefacts, and as such are interesting examples of the possibly indigenous manufacture of 'artefakes' .
The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields. (G.Crowther).
Event Date 1992
Author: rachel hand

Conservation (Surface Clean)
CON.2023.5822 | Surface Clean
Event Date 22/11/2023
Author: Stephanie De Roemer

Description (Physical description)
Totem pole carved from wood with an owl at the base, then a raven, a beaver and a frog at the top with head downwards. There are tool marks visible on the surface.
Event Date 18/12/2023
Author: Kirsty Kernohan