This birch box was made by Indians in northern Maine and traded to Joseph Russell for as many beans as it would hold, somewhere around 1790. Cylindrical birchbark container with incised decoration and lid, label (hand written) giving details of its origin attached to underside of lid. Double curves on lid are ambiguous: can be read as turning inward or outward. Designs feature hatching motif (poss. Penobscot). NB: seams are sewn with spruce root, not moose thong, as stated in label. Lined with newspaper: the Christian Elligencer and Eastern Chronicle, vol IX new series Vol 3 no. 29, of Gardiner, Me.

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