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Beaver Pelt
Beaver Pelt
Beaver Pelt

Beaver Pelt

Manufacturer
Date1867-1976
Place UsedAlaska, USA, North America
Place UsedBritish Columbia, Canada, North America
MediumPelt (beaver); tanned
Dimensions63.5 x 56 x 3 cm (25 x 22 1/16 x 1 3/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Drs. John and Bessie Sawhill
Object number76.1.14
On View
Not on view
Collections
Terms
    ProvenanceEstate of Howard D. Gibbs. Sold to Sawhill in January 1971 Schulman auction (Hans M. F. Schulman, Public Coin Auction, Part III, pg. 14, January 25-27, 1971).
    Label TextIn 17th century Europe, hats made of felt from beaver pelts were incredibly fashionable. Since the beaver population in Europe was severely diminished as manufacturers tried to meet this demand, they sought to find new resources in their colonies across the Atlantic. Trading companies, such as the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), set up several posts and began to establish trading networks across Canada. The HBC played an important role in the colonization of Canada, given authority over its land and inhabitants by the English crown from across the Atlantic. In May 1670, King Charles II issued a charter that incorporated the company, giving it a monopoly over the entire drainage basin of Hudson’s Bay. The area was named “Rupert’s Land” after the HBC’s first governor, the king’s cousin. To get their furs, the HBC relied on trappers–often Indigenous–to supply them with pelts. In return, they would receive commodities such as guns, beads, tobacco, and textiles. As the historian Michael Ledger-Lomas notes, the HBC essentially “persuaded Indigenous trappers to swap beaver pelts for firearms and tobacco, drawing them into transatlantic capitalism.” In order to succeed, the company relied on Indigenous knowledge and labor. Having complete control over a large part of Canada, the HBC’s relationship with First Nations people became exploitative, keeping Indigenous Canadians poor with no option besides participating in the system of trade imposed on them. The HBC’s impact was not only economic, but political, too. It extended and imposed imperial sovereignty on its territories, irreversibly transforming the lives of those who had lived there long before. Their activities also impacted the local environment: over-hunting threatened the beaver population in Canada for some time, but thanks to conservation efforts, they are no longer endangered. By the middle of the 19th century, hats made of beaver fur were no longer in fashion, causing a decline in the fur trade. The HBC continued trading for beaver pelts until the middle of the 20th century. Our pelt, given its good quality, probably dates to this later period in HBC’s history. Based on the information given with the donation of this item (which notes the location as Alaska/British Columbia), this pelt was likely acquired by a First Nations trapper, then traded to HBC somewhere along the border of Alaska and Canada. From there, it was probably auctioned off to Goodman & George (whose logo is on the underside of the pelt), as HBC most often sold their pelts this way. In 1949, HBC held their first auction in Canada in over two hundred years, at their newly opened Fur Sales Department in Montreal. Around the same time, Goodman & George was located close by, making this an opportune moment to purchase from HBC. Mancini Fur Dressers, a division of this company, probably dressed the pelt, cleaning it, tanning the skin, and dyeing it, ensuring it would stay well-preserved for many years to come.
    DescriptionA beaver pelt with manufacturer's stamp on underside.

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