Photographs (left to right): Capitol Reef National Park, Utah; Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada; Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

Wampum Belt Archive

 

Seneca Wampum Belt 37430

belt

Iroquois Wampum Belts Rufus Alexander Grider (1817-1900)

Courtesy Newberry Library, Chicago 

belt

Huron Alliance Belt

Original (NYSM) E-37430

belt

Reprodcution Grider Belt May 05, 2010

Original Size:

Rows: 10. Columns: 125. Glass beads

Reproduction:

Beaded length: 31.0 inches. Width 5.0 inches. Total length with fringe: 55.0 inches.

Beads:

Rows: 10. Columns: 125. Beads: 1,250.

Materials:

Warp: leather. Weave: artificial sinew. Beads: Glass.

 

Description:

Inferred burial belt. The authentic provenience of this belt is questionable. It has been report to have been a reconstructed belt from a burial. The style of beads do not fit with the date of the site nor are the beads of consistent wear and etching to have been buried together. Other artifacts by the original collector have been considered to be fakes.

 

Three sets of purple diagonal squares offset strikingly similar to the Huron Alliance belt (NYSM E-3430). Difference is Gridder's belt has a single vertical row of purple beads at each end and the NYSM belt is 263 columns in length compared to 125 in Grider's.

Reference:

Beauchamp, 1901. Wampum and Shell Articles Used by the New York Indians. NYS Mus. Bull. 41, pp. 321-480.

Hamell, George R. 2010. Personal Communications.

Newberry Library.