Object Record
Images
Additional Images [10]
Metadata
Object ID # |
1956.015.005 |
Object Name |
Tomahawk |
Other Name |
Tomahawk, Pipe |
Title |
Pipe Tomahawk, about 1812 |
Lexicon category |
4: T&E For Materials |
Date |
About 1812 |
Year Range from |
1780 |
Year Range to |
1850 |
Made |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
Likely Canada |
Description |
British style, blacksmith-made pipe tomahawk with original wooden pipestem shaft. The end has a wooden shaped mouthpiece, with a deep score before it. The wood has a dark brown finish. Maker is unknown. The eye of the head is wider at the pipe bowl end and tapers somewhat towards the bit end. A seam can be seen nearby. The pipe bowl area is smooth-sided, and slightly bulbous, with a lip and a ring at its base. Below it, on the eye, there is a pointed metal area. The bit slightly flares. The underside of the hatchet head has a triangular-ended protrusion. |
Makers mark |
None |
Provenance |
Unknown maker, but it is British style, blacksmith made and likely in Canada (no British (B.O. (British Ordinance)) stamp on it). Previously owned by Aubrey Holmes, who was a son of George Holmes, an Owen Sound photographer. Brooke was originally surveyed as the Town plot of Brookeholm in 1857, after the Newash Ojibwa were moved away from the "Newash Reserve" in the area that is now Booke (Brookholme) area of Owen Sound (the northwest area of Owen Sound). The area was slow to develop, due to speculation, but eventually became a residential area. Brooke was annexed to Owen Sound in 1909. George collected some pottery sherd items from here. There were formerly Ojibwa people in that area in the 1840s (and likely earlier), who hunted there and also had burial sites there. There was a Methodist mission established there in the 1840s to help the Newash Band adjust. An 1857 treaty moved the Newash Band to Cape Croker. Over the years, people in the Brooke area occasionally found Indigeous objects. Pipe tomahawks like this were trade items. The Ojibwa from the Saugeen area (which included what is now Owen Sound), used to travel on foot in the winter time to Niagara to receive "presents" from the government in the 1830s. Since this item still has its wooden pipestem handle, it likely was not one of George's archaeological finds at Brooke, but likely was acquired from someone either from Saugeen or the Bruce Peninsula? The donor only provided the information of "Pipe tomahawk, Indian". |
Collection |
First Nations, 19th-c Collection |
Material |
Wood/Metal/Finish |
Dimensions |
W-23 L-50.5 D-4 cm |
Found |
Owen Sound area? |
People |
Holmes, George Holmes, Aubrey |
Subjects |
First Nations Trade Goods |
Function |
Items like this were often made as trade goods. Indigenous people had strong, respectful traditions concerning tobacco smoking, so an item like this would be attractive for trading. A calumet was a pipe. A hatchet tool also was a useful item to acquire. |