#90 • Artifact Digger Story Doll - Beulah Oittillian

Part of December 2024 Premier Auction (live auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $400.00

Status: Sold

Category: Ethnographic Objects

A story doll depicting a digger who is sitting on a fossilized whale vertebra excavated from an old village near Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. His face is carved from walrus tusk, the eyes are inlaid baleen, and he is wearing a parka made from polar bear gut and seal skin pants. His hands and the pick handle are walrus tusk, the pick end is baleen. Within the vertebra, there is a shovel made from walrus tusk and baleen; the artifacts he found are seal vertebra, seal oosic (penile bone), two fetal walrus tusks, a seal disc bone, and two ancient dog's teeth. Signed on the side of the vertebra by Beulah Oittillian of Gambell, Alaska; measures approximately 8" x 9" x 8" tall.