Pendant

Our understanding of historic Grand Portage as a centralized fur trade emporium is intimately tied to the archeological record. Excavations since the 1930s have recovered over 87,000 archeological objects within the park. This striking piece of trade silver, excavated in Grand Portage in 2003, helps tell a significant story of the cross-cultural encounters and exchange between American Indians and European Americans.

Before contact with Europeans, Indians all over the Americas wore shell jewelry. In fabricating pieces such as this, European silversmiths adopted an Indian design for a curved disc similar to a large conch shell. These silver substitutes based on older jewelry designs became vital trade items in negotiations with Native customers. Jewelry was often considered to be more than simple adornment, as the material, shape or design, and even the sound that it produces, could have spiritual connotation.

The maker’s mark “NR” at the top of the pendant, or moon gorget, indicates that this object was produced in Montreal by silversmith Narcisse Roy between 1787 and 1814. This piece made its way to Grand Portage packed in a 36-foot long birchbark canoe powered by the paddling strokes of French-Canadian voyageurs along a 1,500-mile route that included 36 portages. The pendant’s intended destination will remain a mystery, whether as a gift for the Grand Portage Ojibwe or for trade with tribes further west. This object provides a tangible link to the past when the world traveled to, and through, Grand Portage.