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By Dan Rudy 

Lost ceremonial hat repatriated nearly home

 

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In this photo provided by Tlingit Haida Central Council, the Frog Hat of Wrangell's Khaach.ádi clan was returned earlier this month by Oakland Museum of California staff after an absence of nearly a century. The hat had been wrongly acquired and long thought lost until its eventual donation to the museum in 1959.

The Oakland Museum of California recently returned a lost artifact to Tlingit Haida Central Council, a ceremonial clan hat belonging to the Khaach.ádi clan of Wrangell. The Xhixhch'i S'aaxhw, or Frog Hat, is nearly 200 years old, verlaid with copper and abalone shell, and decorated with ermine skins and woven rings.

In a Council news release the hat is said to be a sacred object used in clan ceremonies and is the joint property of the Khaach.ádi. It is uncertain when it will return to Wrangell from Juneau, but it may be formally reintroduced to the public next year.

Tlingit Haida Central...



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