Native American Pottery

X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA

X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA
X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA

X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA

X-RARE Native American Shamans Ceremonial Pipe. Shamans Totem Wolf Eel Pipe.

Find Location: Bainbridge Island, WA. I certify that this Native American Pipe was reportedly traded for on Bainbridge Island, WA, with the owner's permission in the 1800s and has been in the familys private collection for over 100 years. Suquamish Tribe Wolf Eel Pipe used by Shaman. Find Location: Northwest Coast, USA, BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA, 19. This incredible Suquamish Pipe has the powerful Northwest Coast Shamans is made of pottery in the shape of a monster eel-like fish called a Wolf Eel.

The Suquamish believed that only shaman healers could feast on and worship the Wolf Eel as a totem, thus we know this pipe was almost certainly made for and used by a Native American shaman. Animal figures like this large fish pottery made the pipe itself come alive with protective powers (totem or amulet) against evil spirits who were thought to dwell everywhere. The fierce, sinuous body of the fish was purposefully carved to protect and empower the Shaman who used this pipe to help establish communion with his spirit helpers and to protect himself during his trance from evil spirits like the Land Otter. It is a very powerful and spiritual piece! The eel-like Wolf Eel was mysterious, intuitive and is the epitome of transformation.

Pacific NW Shaman would transform themselves with the help of the eel totem to fight off evil spirits like the Land Otter. Pipes were a very important piece of shamanic equipment along the entire Northwest Coast. The rising smoke was thought to be essential for a shaman to attract spirits to the séances and safely carry his spirit to other worlds and back to earth. Wherever it was used, a supernatural presence was thought to be in attendance.

This 19th century Shamans Wolf Eel Pipe is EXTREMELY RARE and only a few are known to exist in Native American museums and fine private collections. This is your chance to own such a treasure. This astonishing, eel-like, fish effigy pipe comes from an old private collection on Bainbridge Island, in the Pacific Northwest! It has been in a private collection in Boulder, Colorado for about 20 years until recently acquired by this store.

Prior to that, it was part of a very old Pacific Northwestern collection of artifacts from the Puget Sound area. The entire estate collection was obtained decades ago from the late Mrs.

Henrietta Swansons relatives, whose family had early Seattle / island connections. Her descendants stated that the original collector had told Mrs. Swanson that their great grandfather acquired it in a trade on Bainbridge island around the late 1890s. The style and the patina suggests that it was made decades or perhaps a century before.

A very early and RARE fired pottery artifact from the pre-white settler indigenous population of the island/region. The pipe is made from fired-clay and beautifully shows a fish called a Wolf Eel captured in the process of swimming.

This is a delightful, yet RARE pipe that lends its fierce power to the tribes surrounding Puget Sound in prehistory. A small reed, mouth opening is located just to the left side of its head, while the large smoke bowl is situated at the dorsal region. Multiple circles, grooves, lunate-style markings cover the sides and top of the pipe and accurately depict the Wolf Eel in every detail. The base of the pipe is smooth and flat, and it displays beautifully! Shaman in the Pacific NW.

Shamans were thought to abandon their physical bodies when traveling to the spirit world in a possessed state. At such times, their bodies were said to become transparent so that the inner organs and skeletal structure were made visible.

Shaman would often spend much of their lives living in isolated huts away from the villages, where they shunned the company of other people. When their presence in the village was required to perform a cure or other ritual, they donned special garments and masks as a means of establishing contacts with their spirit helpers.

It was a Shaman's job to cure the sick, to ensure that there was adequate food, and to influence the weather. The belief was that they had the power to do all those things through an ability to communicate with the spirit world.

Both men and women could have been Shamans, however, they were most often men. When someone took ill, it was believed to be an intervention by the spirit world, or a loss of the person's soul. Shamans were the only people who communicated directly with the spirits, so they were the only ones who could cure the sick. Shamans used their rattles to summon up powers from the spirit world. Then they went into a trance, communicating directly with the spirits, asking them to cure the ill person.

Shamans used their pipes to transform themselves into the Spirit world and communicate with the Spirits. By the Editors of Time Life, 1992, pgs. Spirit Faces: Contemporary Masks of the Northwest Coast. The Coppers of the Northwest Coast Indians: Their Origin. Understanding Northwest Coast Art: A Guide to Crests, Beings and Symbols. Note that ruler and stands are NOT part of the sale. Just there to help you determine the size. All sales are Final, unless I have seriously misrepresented this item! Member of the Authentic Artifact Collectors Association (AACA) & the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). The item "X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA" is in sale since Sunday, March 31, 2019.

This item is in the category "Antiques\Ethnographic\Native American". The seller is "houghton-usa" and is located in Sequim, Washington.

This item can be shipped to United States, all countries in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia.

  • Item: Pipe
  • Maker: Suquamish People
  • Material: Pottery
  • Original/Reproduction: Original
  • Color: Black


X-RARE NW Coast Shaman's Eel Totem Pipe 1800s Suquamish, Bainbridge Island, WA