Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Cultural Services

Item's Choctaw Name:  Kapucha

Item's English Name: Stickball Sticks

Age:  1830s

Material: Light Colored Hardwood (possibly hickory)

Dimensions:

Stick 1:

            Length=66.5 cm, Cup length=25 cm, Max. cup width= 8.5 cm, Handle       D=21.4mm

Sick 2: Cloth repair on lacing

Length=64.5 cm, Cup length=24 cm, Max. cup width= 8.0 cm, Handle       D=21.8mm

Origin:  These sticks were collected by George Catlin in Oklahoma, probably in 1834.

Current Owner:  National Museum of Natural History, #E073303-0.

Location: Smithsonian Museum Support Center

Notes: 

These sticks are of a very early Choctaw style, different from those played with today.  Each of these sticks is made from one strip of wood that begins at the base of the handle, wraps around the cup, and then back down to the base of the handle. This wooden strip is widest at the tip of the cup. 

Lacing holes in the cup were made while wood was green, by pushing or burning from outside in. The lacing string is made from the rawhide from a small animal. On one stick, the ties on the handle and cup are made from cloth-like material that may have been added later.

Tool marks indicate that the sticks were made using a wraps, and a sharp, flat metal blade.  The sticks have been smoothed and polished.