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Drag with ivory seal-head toggle

Arts of the Americas

CULTURE Iñupiaq
MEDIUM Hide, ivory
DATES late 19th century
DIMENSIONS toggle width: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) length: 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER 44.34.11
CREDIT LINE A. Augustus Healy Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION The toggle head is a seal poking through the ice at one end with an angled spur located at the other. The toggle types have a line hole near the midsection of the harpoon head.The toggle head is attached to a fore-shaft assembly which provides the weight to thrust the head through the mammal’s skin and blubber right down into the muscle. When the strike is good enough to get the harpoon head deep into the animal’s muscle, the fore-shaft assembly falls away. This toggle may have been used for seal hunting.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Iñupiaq. Drag with ivory seal-head toggle, late 19th century. Hide, ivory, toggle width: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 44.34.11. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 44.34.11_acetate_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 44.34.11_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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Iñupiaq. <em>Drag with ivory seal-head toggle</em>, late 19th century. Hide, ivory, toggle width: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 44.34.11. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 44.34.11_acetate_bw.jpg)