Seal Charm
3.8 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm
Ivory
Ayaak (Sledge Island), Alaska (Iñupiaq), c.1880
Collector: E. W. Nelson
Museum ID number: NEL.C1.r.0140
This charm is made out of a seal tooth and decorated with charcoal fires. It could have been used
to add weight to a fishhook or it could have also been used as a good luck charm worn as a
decorative piece, such as a belt buckle. In either case, the fishhook or the belt would have gone
through the hole in the belly of the seal, and then the other end of the belt or hook would have
been wrapped around the seal to stay in place. The prevalence of seal charms in the Smithsonian
collections and in the Oberlin collection indicate seal charms were common.