Dagger

Native copper pounded and filed; thong wound around handle for grip; handle terminates in double spiral ornament. Marks on knife of a steel file but I believe it was recently filed to remove an old patina, traces of which still remain. There are also irregular scratches suggesting stone polishing. Knife may be very old. It is of the same type made by the Athabaskan Indians of Copper River, which they still keep as charms for hunting according to Joe Bourke, (of Valdez, Alaska).