Pocket change (fwd)

[Phil CashCash]

Pocket change

By JOHN STROMNES of the Missoulian
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/09/17/news/mtregional/news08.txt

Salish artists crafting beaded pouches to hold commemorative Lewis and
Clark silver dollars

PABLO - The U.S. Mint has put 30 Salish craftsmen of the Flathead Indian
Reservation to work this fall, tanning, sewing and beading leather
medicine pouches much as Indians did some 200 years ago, when the Lewis
and Clark Expedition came through western Montana.

The tribal artists are to provide 7,500 beaded pouches over the next 12
months or so. Like the medicine pouches of old, these will contain good
medicine - specially minted silver dollars authorized by Congress to
commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-06.

Congress authorized 500,000 of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial silver
dollar coins to be produced. But only 50,000 of them will come in
traditional medicine pouches made of brain-tanned buckskin with
certificates of authenticity individually signed by each tribal artist.

The Salish pouches sport one of two bead designs popular in Salish
tradition. The remainder of the 50,000 pouches are being made by
craftspeople from other tribes across the West that came in contact
with the famous voyage of discovery.

Marie Torosian, education director for the People's Center, tribal
museum, gallery and gift shop operated by the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes in Pablo, said the bead patterns are traditional motifs
but original designs. One is a floral design, the other geometric. The
designs were selected from several submitted to the Bicentennial
Commission by the People's Center for consideration, she said. The
winning designs are by contemporary Salish beadworkers Germaine White
and Lucy Vanderburg.

Two weeks ago, the first kits of beads and local brain-tanned buckskin
and lacing were distributed to the 30 or so artists who will sew and
bead the final products. Torosian said each Salish beadworker receives
$20 a pouch. Each one takes an experienced beadworker less than an hour
to produce, and each is inspected for quality of craftsmanship before
it is accepted.

The pouches will be packaged in boxes of 500, with a signed certificate
of authenticity attached to each one, and sent in secure mail to the
U.S. Mint in Washington, where each pouch will be vested with a
commemorative silver dollar. The coins and products will be sold by the
Mint to collectors all over the world.

The idea for the limited-edition pouches originated with the U.S. Mint,
which approached the Circle of Tribal Advisers of the Bicentennial
Commission with the idea as a means of helping the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial program, said Martha Watson, a Mint spokeswoman.

The pouches and contents may go on sale as early as next May. The price
has not been determined.

In the enabling legislation, passed in 1999, Congress provides that each
of the commemorative dollars must weigh 26.73 grams, have a diameter of
1.5 inches, contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, and can be
used for legal tender. It makes no mention of the medicine pouches. The
coins may be minted only during calendar year 2004 at no net cost to
the U.S. government.

Torosian said a grant associated with the program will pay for a Salish
language immersion school for tribal members scheduled to begin at the
end of September at the People's Center.

During the language immersion program, participants will learn to tan
hides the traditional Salish way, Torosian said.

Tribal language revitalization and cultural resource protection are
stated aims of the program, according to the certificate of
authenticity.

There are 114 North American Indian tribes represented by 54 existing
tribal governments involved in the bicentennial observance, all of
whose homelands Lewis and Clark explored 200 years ago.

John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7816 or at
jstromnes at missoulian.com

Copyright © 2003