Posted 6 years ago
JLC
(1 item)
This basket came from my grandparents. They lived on the Wind River reservation in Wyoming in the early 1940’s when my grandfather was an agricultural extension agent, and got the basket then.
However, my grandmother left a note inside the basket saying it was a Hopi basket. I believe it is a second Mesa Hopi from looking around on the Internet.
This is actually a traditional type of Mexican basket, from the Toluca Valley of Central Mexico, not Hopi or Native American.
Although it is coiled, and Second Mesa Hopi baskets are coiled, the material this is made from, and the stitching technique used in construction. are completely different. Hopi coiled baskets are made from yucca, Toluca Valley baskets are made from palm fiber. The stitches on a Hopi coiled basket are much finer, and more even.
More importantly, the Mexican baskets use a different type of stitch to join the coils. Sometimes called a Mariposa stitch, it consists of a wrapped stitch, which separates the coils, and leaves a space between them. It's a main identifying feature of Toluca Valley basketry, and never used on Hopi, or Native American, baskets.
Hopi coiled baskets are made with an interlocking stitch, where each stitch of a coil is pierced, and "interlocked" into the adjoining stitch of the previous coil, creating a very solid basket, with no space at all between the coils.
Thank you so much for sharing your expertise! That is very interesting. I guess Grandma was misinformed. I love the little note she left in it though :-)