Materials

shell, clam, shell, whelk, fibre, skin, leather / coquille, palourde, coquille, buccin, fibre

Motifs and Patterns

The design is made up of purple ground with white beads forming seven diamonds in a V-shape and white edges.

Additional Context

Similar cuff in the Peabody Museum collection, no 15-20-10/86069 and the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (both 20-row, 7 checked diamonds in a “V” like the National Currency Collection example). Christian Feest suggests that these two may once have formed a pair (Feest, 2014, p 71). In total, 13 examples of wampum cuffs are known to exist (Becker, 2007, p.64).

Regarding the cuff in the National Currency Collection, Becker writes: “In all probability, the wampum cuff at the Currency Museum, (the best documented example) originated among the Wendat. It was likely included among several wampum items Paul Picard sold to a collector c. 1888-1890 (Lainey 2004: 97). Picard’s father, Tahourenche, was an important elder in the Huron community" (p. 65-66).

Regarding the origins of wampum cuffs in general, Feest gives a brief account: Anthropologist Frank Speck described them as Penobscot hair ornaments in 1919, based on information provided by Mohawk informants. However, 18th century French sources indicate they were cuffs worn by Mohawk men. Feest specifically cites Claude-Charles Le Roy de Bacqueville and Joseph Francois Lafitau. In Bacqueville’s description, the cuffs are worn by women too. Feest dismissed Becker’s claim that cuffs were of Wendat origin, and the idea that the form was derived from the cuffs of European captain’s coats, citing Becker’s lack of documentary evidence. Feest proposes instead that the form could have been inspired by archery bracers or wrist-guards since it appears they weren’t always worn as pairs (Feest, 2014, p. 72).

Other Notes

This relative came with a note:
Wampum Strings
Symbols of authority. Single strings were sent to chiefs to call them to council meetings. Several strings fastened together at one end were used to open council meetings. Each string represented a tribe.

Previously described as "hair covering" on museum accession index card.

Dimensions: 14 × 13.3 × 0 cm

Condition: On the right corner of the short end of the cuff: the weaving has become undone; several beads are missing. The cuff was last photographed in 2005. There is also a photograph of it in La Tribune and in WEEKEND Magazine, both 1959, as part of articles on Ferguson’s collection. The cuff was already damaged by that point.

Current Location: Bank of Canada Museum

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 1964.19.2

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1964

Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Purchased from J. Douglas Ferguson on February 18, 1964.

Collection Narratives and Histories

Purchased from J. Douglas Ferguson, Feb 18th 1964. Possibly acquired by Ferguson from Cyrille Tessier of Québec who may have acquired it from Paul Picard of Wendake along with wampum belt 1964.88.7 / GKS 59180 (See M.J. Becker, 2007 citing Lainey, 2004).

This belonging does not appear on the lists of various purchases from the Bank of Canada Museum's Ferguson collection (binder: "Purchases Vol. 1 Ferguson").

Source for Provenance information

Bank of Canada Museum records shared with GRASAC.

Exhibition History

Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy, McCord-Stewart Museum, Montreal. October 20th, 2023 to March 10th, 2024.

This wampum cuff was part of a gathering hosted by the Bank of Canada Museum with elders from Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabe First Nation on May 3 2024. The purpose of the gathering was to welcome the wampum belts in the National Currency Collection back to Algonquin territory after their loan to the McCord-Museum in Montreal for the exhibition Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy.

“Shells to Loonies,” travelling exhibition organized by the Currency Museum (now Bank of Canada Museum), 1994-1999.

The cuff was included in the travelling exhibition organized by the Currency Museum: “Shells to Loonies.” The exhibition travelled throughout Quebec and Ontario for 5 years, from at least March 1994. The exhibition was advertised by the Ontario Historical Society in its Bulletin (no. 90, March-April 1994). The exhibition included over 100 objects, including “barter goods, coins, paper money and bank note complete with explanatory notes and texts.” (OHS Bulletin no 90, 1994). Venues included the Sault Ste. Marie Museum. The Ontario Historical Society published the following announcement in its Bulletin (no. 110, July-August, 1997) promoting the exhibition:
“August: From Shells to Loonies, the travelling exhibit from the Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada in Ottawa arrives at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum during the last week of this month. Visit the Museum and explore how currency has changed in Canada from wampum used by the First Nations to the loonie...”

Newspaper clippings of the exhibition are included in the Linda Bramble research papers at Brock University as part of her research on the American Civil War (Series III 2.36).

Publication History

Stolle, Nikolaus, Talking Beads: The History of Wampum as a value and Knowledge Bearer, From its Very Beginnings Until Today. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac, 2016, p 302, cat. 404.

Feest, Christian, "Wampum from Early European Collections, Cuffs, Bags and More," in American Indian Art Magazine 40:1 (January 2014): 70-78.

Becker, Marcel Joseph, “Unique Huron Ornamental Bands: Wampum Cuffs,” in Material Culture Review no. 66 (Fall 2007): pp. 59-67, cat. 11.

“His Money is Worth Thousands,” in WEEKEND Magazine 9:45 (1959), pp. 14-15 and 30 (illustrated on p. 14).

Spurr, Russell, "Une collection unique au monde," in La Tribune (November 1959): pp. 16-17 and 10. (illustrated on p. 16).

Sources to Learn More

For further details about the Bank of Canada Museum's wampum gathering on May 3, 2024, contact the Bank of Canada Museum.

In "La monnaie des sauvages”, Jonathan Lainey argues that settler collectors of wampum often operated within their own geographic areas. He connects the collecting activities of David Ross McCord, based in Montreal, to the nearby Kanien'kehá:ka communities and Cyrille Tessier, based in Québec, to the nearby Wendat community. This theory supports a tentative attribution of this wampum cuff as having Wendat provenance:
“Si c’est effectivement le cas, si on peut penser que les collectionneurs avaient leur propre réseau et qu’ils amassaient essentiellement les objets dans 'leur région', Tessier aurait dû acquérir ses wampums à Lorette, ce que n’est pas impossible compte tenu du fait que les Hurons en conservaient plusieurs.” (120)

Related language items in the GKS: otgoˀa:ˀ

GKS Reference Number: 59187

How to Cite this Item

Maker, Name unrecorded. Wampum cuff. GRASAC ID 59187. Bank of Canada Museum 1964.19.2.

Record Creation Context

This record was created by Dana Murray on August 6, 2024. It draws on images and information provided by the Bank of Canada Museum.