Here's another beautiful Maliseet paddle with some etchings of circular scrolls on the blade. Seems unique to me since most of the stylized scroll motifs I've come across point outward rather than inward into confined circular medallions. It dates to 1880 and is one of the paddles commissioned by Francis Brinley Hazen (1852-1888) from St. Mary's Reserve in Fredericton - the heart of Maliseet territory.
c. 1880
New Brunswick Museum
From the looks of the light coloured blade and grip and darkened shaft, along with a subtle chip along the blade edge (left side, half way up), this might in fact be the opposite side of a previously featured paddle in the collection of the New Brunswick Museum (1959.86B).
c. 1880
Maple with carved decoration
169.0 x 13.6 cm
New Brunswick Museum, (1959.86B)
This image from the New Brunswick Museum reveals the same chip on the blade (right side). Hard to make out but this side of the grip features a clear image of salmon. Beneath some vine etchings at the throat look to be a pictorial vignette. It might in fact be the scene described by Historian Ruth Phillips in this earlier post here.
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