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Originally Posted by Harry Marinakis
The Tlingit (and other NW Coast natives) sell so much of their other spiritual and religious regalia that I do not believe that to be the reason. I have commissioned other "senstitive" cultural items and no one has ever balked at fulfilling my commission orders.
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I not sure what you mean by "sensitive" cultural items. NWC natives certainly produce and sell contemporary art for tourists and collectors and with this type of culture it would be difficult not to see some of their spiritual/religious nature come through in the commercial art. However, i still think that they might balk at the idea of producing a dagger such as this one for you.
Regardless, i still don't think the reason you could not find a Tlingit craftsman to make this for you was because it is a "lost art". If you have bought contemporary Tlingit art you can no doubt see that they have retained a fine level of craftsmanship in all forms and mediums. This dagger below, for instance, is a replica of Keet Gwalaa (Killer Whale Dagger) made by Harold Jacobs (A Tlingit and Cultural Resource Specialist with Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska) with the help of master carver Steve Brown (Assistant Curator of Native American art at the Seattle Art Museum) who carved the die used to cast the hilt in 1985. While Steve is a white guy i believe there are certainly many Tlingit carvers who would also be up to this task of carving this die. Steve has studied for years with the best of them and has worked very closely with the Tlinglit community. I believe this repro was made to replace the original dagger in the Penn Museum collection after Harold succeeded in getting the museum to return it to the tribe.
http://www.penn.museum/collections/object/354042