This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.Provenience note: collection apparently purchased or collected by McLean in Sitka and vicinity circa 1884.From card: "Cut from the solid, stylistically carved, and provided on reverse with one-quarter deep cut vertical grooves at one inch intervals, permitting bending to almost complete oval. Reverse also excavated for nose conformity and slotted at eye level for vision. Perforated for breathing just below nose excavation and for mouth support (basketry pad in mouth. Carved fluting at top.) See: "Primitive American Armor", by Walter Hough, Report, U.S.N.M., 1893, pp. 625-651. Illus: The Spirit Sings catalogue, Glenbow-Alberta Inst., 1987, #N105, p. 156. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 13 top right, pg. 281. Illus. in USNM AR, 1888, Pl. XIV, fig. 50, p. 270. Loan Glenbow Nov 13, 1987, loan returned Nov 25 1988. Black and white negative numbers: 43230C (front); 43230D (top), 43230E (right side)."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=610 , retrieved 1-5-2012: Armor collar This wooden collar fit beneath a warrior's helmet to cover and protect his face and neck. Notches at the top allowed him to see out, and a small round hole in the center was provided for breathing. Inside the collar is a spruce root loop that he gripped in his teeth. To make this collar a craftsman first shaped a piece of hard spruce burl into a plank, then scored it with parallel grooves and bent it in a circle. Crest designs are carved on the front.

May be Sitka Tlingit?: it is identified as collected in Sitka; and also see accession history re the basket part of this accession being from the "Sitka-Kwahn."

FROM CARD: "CUT FROM THE SOLID, CARVED TO REPRESENT THE BEAVER, PAINTED, AND PEGGED WITH TUFTS OF HUMAN HAIR ON CREST. INCISOR TEETH, TWO UPPER AND TWO LOWER, OF BRASS. TROUGHSCUT FOR REMAINDER OF TEETH NOW EMPTY. PAINTED GREEN OVER ALL, EXCEPT EYEBALLS, BLACK; EYE-BROWS, BLACK; NOSTRILS, RED; LIPS, BLACK. (RESTORED SECTION OF CHEEK SECURED WITH PEGS) NEG. NO. 43,227-E (FRONT). 43,227-F (PROFILE-RIGHT SIDE)."McLean list in accession file identifies this object as Chilcat. It appears that Chilcat may be meant as a place name on this list, perhaps not specifically or exclusively as a culture name, similar to the way other objects in the collection are identified as Sitka, Kootzahoo, and Hoonia. Chilcat/Chilkat is a name sometimes used for Klukwan.

FROM CARD: "LOCALITY: ALASKA. REMARKS: *FOUND NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE INDIAN RIVER, 2 MI. FROM SITKA."

FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN NM REPORT 1884, PL. VI, FIGS. 9, 10, P. 306; USNM AR 1888, FIG. 185-6, AND PL. 36, FIG. 180, P. 314; REPORT, 1902, FIG. 155; P. 426. TAG ON ARTIFACT SAYS SALISH, FRASER RIVER."See USNM AR for 1902, p. 426, where basket is identified as "procured from Sitka [sic], Alaska Indians by J.J. McLean, to which place it had doubtless drifted in trade from the Fraser River (British Columbia, Canada) Region." While the basket was actually catalogued as from "Hoonia" (i.e. Hoonah), not Sitka, the identification of the basket as Fraser River Salish type seems correct and it has been stored with that collection.