Described p. 102 in Brown, James Temple. 1883. The whale fishery and its appliances. Washington: Govt. print. off.: "Seal-skin Buoy. Skin of the hair-seal used by natives in the capture of the whale. Indian name, "Do-ko-kuptl." New. Length, 36 inches. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery, 1883. James G. Swan."

FROM CARD: "KEET-ROO-SEE-TEE-KA. MYTHOLOGICAL."

From card: "Twined, with decorative overlay."Basket was purchased by Evans from dealer Grace Nicholson in 1919; Nicholson # 6156. See copy of Evans correspondence with Nicholson, dated June 19, 1919, filed in the Anthropology Collections Lab accession file; original of correspondence is part of the Grace Nicholson Papers and Addenda, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California; see online finding aid https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf787005cq/ .A small label, presumably from Grace Nicholson, is glued inside rim of basket: "6156 Yakutat."

Object has old identifying tag from James G. Swan describing its function.

ACCORDING TO SWAN'S LIST (FROM ACCESSION FILE) THIS PIECE IS DESCRIBED AS "FIGURE OF A MAN RESTING HIS ELBOWS ON HIS KNEES" AND IS IDENTIFIED AS ONE OF A GROUP OF "SITKA CARVINGS". NOTE: (AUGUST, 1997) ACCORDING TO DR. PETER MACNAIR, ETHNOLOGIST, THE FIGURE IS "JENNA CASS" TYPE. (S. CRAWFORD, SEPT., 1997). ILLUS. FIG. 65, P. 88 IN DOWN FROM THE SHIMMERING SKY BY PETER MACNAIR, VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, 1998. IDENTIFIED THERE BY PETER MACNAIR AS FIGURE REPRESENTING MAN, TLINGIT, ARTIST UNKNOWN, C. 1870.CATALOG NUMBER 13102 WAS ALSO ASSIGNED TO A HAIDA CANOE MODEL FROM SWAN'S COLLECTION BUT AS OF 1997 NO CANOE WITH THIS NUMBER COULD BE LOCATED.Note: accession record indicates 2 Haida canoe models were part of this accession. Swan indicates in the accession record that some of the other artifacts in the accession were packed in these canoe models for shipping, so they were not very small. One was not described further in the accession record. The second is only listed as "fancy painted." These were given catalogue #s 13102 and 13103. MNH2373 is a black and white photo of canoe model 13102. This canoe model is described on p. 934 of the Collins Boat Ms., and there is a notation there that it was in the Division of Mechanical Technology as of 1899, but a subsequent undated annotation indicates it was accidentally destroyed. 13103 is also described in the Collins Boat Ms. on p. 932. The manuscript has an annotation indicating it was withdrawn from the Division of Technology by Otis Mason in 1899 (implying that it went to the Division of Ethnology), but as of 2016, this canoe model has not been located during various inventories.

There is an old circa 1876 tag with the artifacts in Swan's hand: "Needles for making rush mats. Towanahoo Indians, Hood Canal, W.T.".