THE Tiná, of which a drawing appears on the cover of The Bulletin, is a shield-like sheet of copper, three and a half feet long and about one-eighth inch in thickness, wrought from great nuggets of the native ore, without soldering, and by a process of welding, the technique of which has not yet been defined. Of Tlingit origin, such objects were originally used as war indemnity between clans, and each piece had an individual name, hut in recent years each important chief had his own, and the pieces came to have value as a medium of exchange, usually representing the cost of four male slaves.
The design engraved at the top of this tiná represents the grizzly bear. The piece was probably made for the Haida by the Tlingits, who were encouraged in the manufacture of such objects by the Haida, who had no native copper of their own.