Etched Penobscot Woodland Paddle

The recent Native American, Pre-Columbian, Tribal & Fine Art Auction by By Taos Company featured two vintage paddles:

Northeast Woodland Canoe Paddle

Lot 162

84 inches

Hand-carved wooden canoe paddle featuring an elongated blade form with remnants of original red and black pigment. The surface shows a warm, softened patina, and the tapered handle retains signs of use.

Provenance: John Magoone collection, ME

Penobscot Woodland Canoe Paddle

Lot 163

62 inches

Penobscot, finely carved with traditional Penobscot imagery on each side including a maple leaf, a Native chief in profile wearing a feathered headdress, a moose head with antlers, and leaf and floral motifs. The carvings are deeply incised and crisply rendered along the blade. Warm reddish-brown surface with an aged patina and subtle wear from handling. 

Ex. Jeff Cherry, NY & ME

Closeup of decorative etchings

Rare Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) paddles linked to Chestnut Canoe Company

Waddington's is currently hosting an online auction of Historic First Nations Art closing on December 5, 2024 at 2pm EST. Included in the collection are three stunning canoe paddles with an impressive provenance. Lot 14 is a pair of Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) paddles featuring extensive double curved etchings on the blades. 

Lot 14

Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Paddles

60.5 x 5.75 x 1 in — 153.7 x 14.6 x 1.9 cm

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

Although one of the paddles has some damage along the exterior edge, the blades are not cracked and intricate etching motifs are wonderfully executed by a skilful hand. Existing paddles with these elaborate double curved motifs are indeed very rare with just a few scattered in museum collections around the world. 

Lot 14  - Closeup of blades

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

The elongated handles with graceful scalloped edges are marked with an inscription, "Ida" and are etched with the dates 1898 and 1899 on the reverse sides. 

Lot 14 - Scalloped grips with inscription

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

The paddles belonged to William T. Chestnut and his wife Ida and hung in the Chestnut family cottage at Robertson's Point on Grande Lake, Jemseg NB. William was of course one of the brothers responsible for the establishment of the famed Chestnut Canoe Company and was an avid outdoorsman and canoeist well before the establishment of the canoe business. The paddles fit the profile of being carved by nearby Maliseet artisans from Kingsclear First Nation.

Lot 15 is another Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) paddle of a different form and dimension. 

 Lot 15 - Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Paddle

56.25 x 4.5 x 1 in — 142.9 x 11.4 x 2.5 cm

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

The blade features an etching of a nature scene with birds nesting surrounded by a leafy border.

 Lot 15 - Blade Closeup

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

The slightly stretched grip bears another decorative etching and is inscribed "W. Chestnut". The paddle shows evidence of some in-water use including a slightly worn tip but is in remarkable condition.

 Lot 15 - Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Paddle

56.25 x 4.5 x 1 in — 142.9 x 11.4 x 2.5 cm

Image Courtesy of Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Toronto

These are absolutely fascinating specimens which rarely come up for auction. For more information and viewing of other available pieces, go to:

Waddington's Online Catalogue Historic First Nations Art

December 6th Update: Lot 14 Pair of paddles sold for $9500 CAD or approximately $6770 US (2 bids) with the Lot 15 William Chestnut paddle selling for $2200 CAD or approximately $1570 US (4 bids). Buyer's premium and sales tax in addition to the above.

Circa 1860 "Pleasing the Spirits" paddle up for auction (again)

Bonham's  Auctions is featuring a circa 1860 paddle in their upcoming NATIVE AMERICAN & TRIBAL ART auction, set for 8 November 2023. LOT 84 features "A Northeastern Woodlands canoe paddle" which might be familiar to readers of this blog.

A Northeastern Woodlands canoe paddle

Malecite(?), c. 1860s

63 3/4 in.

Provenance: Private collection, New York. 
Collected in the St. John's River area of New Brunswick, Canada.

The uniquely carved stepped grip of this paddle features some floral incised decorative elements.

This paddle was originally illustrated in an exhibition catalog from 1982, Pleasing the Spirits. A Catalogue of a collection of American Indian Art by Douglas C. Ewing, Page 385, plate 474. It was up for auction back in 2009 where it fetched a realized price $2500 after being valued at $700. It seems to have been up for auction again in 2017. I made a replica from maple back in 2020 and it has become one of my favourites for relaxed solo paddling. Hopefully this treasure will go to a good home where it will be valued for the historic piece that it is.

Nov 10 2023 Update: Paddle sold for $3200 US (including buyer's premium)

Circa 1900 Penobscot Maple paddle and Historic Photograph

The January 2022 'New Finds' page at the CherryGallery.com features a large, circa 1900 Penobscot paddle:

Penobscot Canoe Paddle

Circa 1900

Maple

8” w, 74.5” h

Also featured is a photograph dated to the same era of some Maine Guides posing with their cedar canvas canoes:

The write-up explains:

This is a rare and fabulous large photo of four wood and canvas canoes pulled up along the gravel beach of a river. Four guides stand in the sterns holding long poles for traveling upstream, and each canoe has a man in the bow. The canoes are packed with gear indicating that the hired guides are taking their “sports” on a multi-day fishing trip.

Atikamekw paddles at the Université de Montreal

The Collection ethnographique of the Université de Montreal houses some Atikamekw artefacts which form the basis of an indigenous watercraft display.

The birchbark canoe canoe was made by Albert Biroté (1899-1977), an Atikamekw master craftsman from Wemotaci (Haute-Mauricie) in 1974. It was commissioned at the request of Norman Clermont, archaeologist from the anthropology department of the University of Montreal, as part of his investigation into the history of Wemotaci and the material culture of its inhabitants. 

Clermont's research was eventually published as a book entitled, La culture matérielle des indiens de Weymontachie. I was able to find a rare copy of this book housed at the Royal Ontario Museum's library. The publication contains a grainy image of the set of paddles also carved by Albert Biroté to accompany the canoe (see original post here).

La culture matérielle des indiens de Weymontachie 

Norman Clermont (‎1982) 

A second sketch appears in the book providing a closeup of the decorative element...

La culture matérielle des indiens de Weymontachie 

Norman Clermont (‎1982) 

New colour photos from the university reveal some more details of the paddle set, including closeup views of the deeply etched leaf patterns on the decorated handle. Curiously, this longer paddle of the two has been labelled as an "Aviron de Femme", a "Woman's paddle". Most other samples of gender specific paddles labelled by other museums and documentation (like Adney's description of Male / Female Cree paddles) had noted the shorter length of paddles typically utilised by women.

Aviron de femme

Item No: 75.5.3

Maple, Varnished

DIMENSIONS: L. 143.5 cm x l. 10.2 cm

DESCRIPTION: Oar in varnished maple. Handle decorated with flower motifs carved on both sides enhanced by light burning of the backwood.

Source Link

The second paddle, plainly carved in birch features a much smaller bulb grip and is a few centimetres shorter.

Aviron d'homme

Item No. 75. 75.5.2

Birch 

DIMENSIONS: 134 cm x  13 cm

Source Link

NMAI Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Floral Incised paddle

Here's another interesting find in the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian. Item 90034.000 is a heavily repaired paddle attributed loosely to the "Ontario Ojibwe". The paddle's original collection date is unknown but it was donated to the forerunner of the NMAI by A.B. Comer of New York City in 1919.

Canoe Paddle

Ontario Ojibwe

no later than 1919

Barcode: 090034.000

Catalog No. 9/34

Source Link

Rather than featuring paint, the incised decorations feature some vine-like and floral motifs, not unlike the Anishinaabe decorative traditions of beadwork. 

St. John River Malecite Replica

With the Covid19 issue taking over life here, it's been a challenge to get any work done on paddles between all the necessary isolating in addition to home-schooling my two boys. Many lingering projects from last summer have gone unfinished. One such paddle project is a replica of the circa 1860's Woodland paddle with a unique reverse stepped grip originally featured in this post here.

NORTHEASTERN WOODLANDS (Malecite?) CANOE PADDLE

Circa 1860

5 ft. 3 3/4 in.

Maple

This paddle was collected in the St. John's River area of New Brunswick, Canada. Floral designs are incised on the top.

Originally from the Estate of Herbert and Patricia Wellington of Locust Valley, NY

I didn't have any birds-eye to work with, but just used plain soft maple. Here is a photo from the end of last summer. A little work needed to be done on symmetry and the grip area, but the paddle was progressing well.

1860 St. John River paddle in soft maple

The grip area of the original is actually asymmetrical. One side has a defined lip at the top while the other simply smoothed over. This second side also has a some basic chip-carved elements in the form of vines and dots.

In addition there are a series of incised lines with the number varying from one to three depending on the side of the grip face. Using a chip-carving knife and some abrasive cordage, I formed these interesting carving features on the grip and then burned a reproduction of the carved elements. In keeping with the original, the top station of the grip was not carved to perfect symmetry either, with the left a little more indented than the right. I like how these truly hand made paddles were carved with such imperfections that really are a reflection of mechanised construction.

Like many of the reproductions I've been doing lately, I burned many of the details onto one side of the blade. 

The original plan was to stain the very bright and plain maple wood to a more honey tone, but that will have to wait until time allows some experimentation. 

New Crooked Knife

Amidst the Covid19 lockdown, I realized I lost one of my favourite carving tools - this crooked knife made back in 2010.

So part of my quarantine was spent making another blade from an old file and creating a new crooked knife. In the end the loss of a favourite tool allowed for some more customisation on this one. The blade is set to a comfortable angle for me with the handle carved from a piece of hard maple. Also made it more decorative with a rounded scroll on top with chip-carved mimicked pattern burned along the sides

I screwed up the delicate carving of the recess for the tang and it ended up being far too loose. Not traditional, but the blade was set with some epoxy putty and then wrapped with some leather lace. It seemed fitting that a canoe paddle should be burned onto the design as well.

Been testing it out on a bunch of mini-paddles I've been working on. It is carving well...

Mid 19th C. Northeastern Woodland Tiger Maple Paddle

Not sure how I missed this when it first came up for auction in 2017, now archived on Worthpoint.com...

 Northeastern Woodlands Painted Wood Paddle

first half 19th century, possibly Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)

tiger maple, 75 inch long by 5-1/2" wide

Painted in red and green, the color scheme may be suggestive of the upper and lower worlds, length 

Estimate: $3,000 - $3,500

Price Realized Including Buyer's Premium

$3,000

04/08/2017

Grip and shaft closeup

Summer 2019 - Working on new paddles

Any morsel of free time was spent working on paddles this summer. At the moment, I have 3 distinct designs being worked on. First up is a 58" replica of the circa 1860's Woodland paddle collected from the St. John River area in New Brunswick featured earlier in this post here.

NORTHEASTERN WOODLANDS (Malecite?) CANOE PADDLE

Circa 1860
5 ft. 3 3/4 in. 
Maple

I didn't have any birds-eye to work with, but just used plain soft maple. Still have to work on symmetry and the grip area, but here is the progress so far. It will likely be stained to match the honey-toned patina of the original.

1860 St. John River paddle in soft maple

Simultaneously, I've been working down a choice piece of spruce to make a reproduction of a pole grip Cree paddle dated to circa 1930-1935. The original with a black painted blade is in the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris, France.

Pagaie

Géographie :  Amérique –  Amérique du Nord –  Canada

Culture :  Amérique –  Cree

Date :  1930-1935

Dimensions et poids :  158.5cm  x 12.5cm, 647 g

Donateur :  Paul Coze

Précédente collection :  Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)

Numéro d'inventaire :  71.1931.44.155

Source Link

My version was hewn with an axe and turned out ok except for a cumbersome knot at the top of the pole grip which created a slight bulge in an otherwise straight shaft. It was easily worked down with a crooked knife creating lots of wood shavings and bits for the evening camp fires.

c1930-1935 Cree Paddle in spruce

The inspiration for this final paddle is an illustration by famed Canadian artist, Arthur Heming (1870-1940), who travelled with voyageur brigades at the very end of the fur trade era. This specific artwork depicted a hardy voyageur  climbing up a steep slope with a tumpline loaded with a crate and large sacks of supplies. A narrow paddle with an oval bobble grip acts as a support stick.

This particular illustration was selected to visualize a description of a tough uphill portage by the canoe party in J.W. Tyrell's Across the sub-Artics of Canada, published in 1898 and available on Archive.org. Heming accompanied Tyrell on this trip and sketched many realistic portraits of the crew and environment. It stands to reason that the accomplished artist drew this paddle design from a realistic sample in the field.

My version was made from a narrow basswood board and also worked down with a crooked knife and spokeshave. Still not finished yet but it is coming along...

Heming Voyageur replica

Here are all three paddle side by side for comparison. Interesting to see that in their raw states, they all have similar pale tone. 

2019 Summer's work so far

19th C Passamaquoddy Paddle with unique carving features

Here's another remarkable example of an Eastern Woodlands paddle with some interesting features. A current inventory item posted on Adam Ethnographic Art, it is listed as a  19th century Passamaquoddy. It measures 195 cm (76 inches), consistent with other long paddles of the Woodland Tradition, typically used standing in ocean going canoes. Below is an image and description from the source site posted with permission from the owner. 

Passamaquoddy Paddle

An interesting paddle from the Passamaquoddy people of Maine and dating to the early 19th century. This paddle has been carved later in its life by a European, I am sure while still in the U.S. It has a plate attached to the grip with the name 'JOHN H TAYLOR ESQ' embossed upon it. This also would have been added later, either the name of the new owner or more likely the name of an earlier owner, the information having being passed down with the paddle. 195 cm. 

The carving decoration is quite unique, leafy designs with a few double curve motifs is a pseudo-native style believed to be added later. Etched within the design are two apparent faces drawn with distinct features, each inverted from the other.

 

Blade  closeup

One of the "faces" carved into the blade

The grip features a heavily indented carving which flows down the sides, not a very common feature with many paddle handles. Also shown below is a close up of the metallic name plate embossed with capital letters belonging to a former owner.

Grip closeup showing metallic name plate attached.

Price on request by contacting Adam Prout.

Antique Penobscot Paddle

An Ebay seller has a listing for an antique Penobscot paddle acquired from a Maine estate. Unfortunately there is no date associated with the item. Likely carved from maple, the 62 inch long paddle shows heavy signs of usage including abrasion on the shaft, splits at the blade tip and a chipped edge on one side of the blade.  Still, the carving details of the grip shows it was made by some skilled hands.

Antique Penobscot Paddle

Split blade tip and chipped edge (upper left)

Grip Closeup