CMCB0822 Rare Columbia River Rolled Copper Beads and Bangles

Product Description

CMCB0822 Rare Columbia River Rolled Copper Beads and Bangles

Fantastic collection of framed  early Fur Trade copper artifacts including, 14 rolled copper beads and 4 Copper bangle examples. These were crafted and cut from early copper kettles traded to First nations along the Columbia river. These were all found by Charles Mitchel on the Columbia River in the 1950’s.

 Charles Mitchell was born in Sunnyside Washington. He was about 9-10 years old when he began hunting Indian relics with his parents in the late 1940’s. They made many family collecting trips to areas along the Columbia River, in the Oregon and Nevada deserts and Northern California. Over the years, Charlie was often accompanied on relic hunting trips by other well known western collectors such as Ernest Cowles, Charles Hall and Carrel Morton. All four of these gentlemen are profiled in Who’s Who in Indian Relics No. 3.

Charlie was a member of the Oregon Archaeological Society as well as the Mid-Columbia Archaeological Society. As a member of these organizations, he participated in salvage archaeology projects undertaken by the National Park Service with the University of Washington and Washington State University. These activities were conducted under the supervision of professional archaeologists including Robert Butler, Edward Larrabee, Douglas Osborne, David Rice and others.

Charlie enjoyed spending time viewing collections and discussing artifacts with others, including famous western collectors Emory Strong, author of “Stone Age on the Columbia River” and “Stone Age in the Great Basin”; and Charles Miles, author of “Indian and Eskimo Artifacts of North America”.

In 1972, because of his extensive knowledge of historic and prehistoric material culture of the Northwest, Charlie was asked by Gene Favell to become the curator-administrator of the newly opened “Favell Museum of Western Art and Artifacts” in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Favell Museum is well known for its extensive western lithics collection. He served as curator of the Favell Museum for many years before leaving to start an antique sales and restoration business with his wife Jackie.

BC Artifacts Ltd. legally obtained some of this collection in 2005 thru Mark Berreth of Kennewick Washington.

Great condition but these were cleaned at some point as they would be green from patina and age if in original condition.

Great for education, study, and display. Full history on SOP.

Additional information