NMNH 1930 Sticks

Item's Choctaw Name: Kapucha

Item's English Name: Stickball Sticks

Age: early 1900s ?

Material: light colored hardwood, lacing is light colored brain tan hide

Dimensions:

Stick 1 (male): Length=84cm, Cup Length=20cm, Cup Max Width=7cm wide. Handle D=22.8mm, Cup Strip Max Width=22.9 and =6.2mm thick. Handle base=24.4mm x 20.0mm.

Stick 2 (female): Length=79cm, Cup Length=15cm, Cup Max Width=6cm wide, Handle D=22.2mm, Cup Strip Max Width=30.2 and =6.2 thick. Handle base=23.2mm x 20.0mm.

Origin: collected, Philadelphia, MS, 1930s

Current Owner: National Museum of Natural History # E380089

Location: Smithsonian Museum Support Center

Notes:

These sticks were shaped with a flat-edged metal blade, such as a drawknife. The base of the handle was cut with a saw; no rasp marks are evident. The lacing holes been have been burned from outside in. Handles have spiral negative designs, that might have been created by loosely wrapping them in some type of material, and then scorching the exposed wood in between the wraps. The lacing and all wraps are made from braintanned hide.