Miniature Basket
• 1.9 cm high x 2.5 cm diameter
This little basket is no bigger than a quarter. The maker wove it in a honeycomb pattern. Maine Indian baskets in this style are quite rare. It is even more rare to know the history of such a unique piece.
Mrs. Ruel Kimball donated it to the Abbe Museum in 1929 and recounted its remarkable history. Mrs. Kimball’s grandaunt was Eliza Eaton. She, in turn, was the granddaughter of Captain Park Holland, Revolutionary War soldier and early surveyor of the Penobscot River. Captain Holland moved his family to Eddington (a town on the east side of the river north of Bangor) in 1801. For several years, he was the Indian agent to the Penobscot Tribe. This basket was a gift from a tribal member to his daughter Eliza Holland, who died in 1818, or to his granddaughter Eliza Eaton, born in 1816.
This very small basket is no larger than a quarter.