c1860 St. John Maliseet Paddle Replica - Part 1

A long time in the making but finally got around to starting another vintage replica. This one was based on circa 1860 paddle collected in the St. John River area of New Brunswick. It appeared in the Stair Galleries auction site (May 23, 2009 Past Auction catalogue - Lot # 110).


NORTHEASTERN WOODLANDS (Malecite?) CANOE PADDLE
Circa 1860
5 ft. 3 3/4 in.
Maple
Estimate : $700 - $900
Realized : $2,500
This paddle was collected in the St. John's River area of New Brunswick, Canada. Floral designs are incised on the top. 

The paddle was also featured in a long out of print exhibition catalogue - Pleasing the spirits : a catalogue of a collection of American Indian art by Ewing, Douglas C (1982) - plate 474. Luckily one copy of this out of print exhibit catalogue was available at the Toronto Reference Library where I went to find some extra information. The black and white pics included a closeup of the floral carving details etched on the grip of the not featured on the auction images.


Basic Floral Etchings on grip

The original was made from some beautiful Birdseye but I was only able to source out some plain soft maple. Still progress is being made. Here is the paddle with the blade and grip being worked on...