36 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Mr Crisfield Johnson mentions that in 1796 there came to Buffalo 

 Asa Ransom, " a silversmith by trade, who . . . went to work 

 making silver brooches, earrings, and other things in which the soul 

 of the red man and the red man's wife so greatly delighted." This 

 was a profitable trade. In the Richmond collection is a box of tools 

 and patterns for making silver ornaments, obtained from an Indian. 

 Many white persons have seen the work done. Josiah Jacobs, of 

 the Onondaga reservation, told the writer that his uncle Ju-ne- 

 gant-ha " The tribe is very large," made brooches out of silver coins 

 on a small anvil. These were hammered out, and then cut out by 

 patterns. Punches and chisels were used, and his greatest difficulty 

 was in setting colored glass in pendants and earrings. Other smiths 

 are known by name to the writer. 



In his report in 1852 Mr Morgan says of this: 



The most of the silver ornaments in later years have been made 

 by Indian silversmiths, one of whom may be found in nearly every 

 Indian village. They are either made of brass or silver, or from 

 silver coins pounded out, and then cut into patterns with metallic 

 instruments. The earrings figured in the plate were made out of 

 silver, by an Onondaga silversmith of Grand River, under the direc- 

 tion of the writer. Morgan. Fabrics etc. p. 89 



In the report of 1850 he said that hatbands, arm and wrist bands, 

 earrings and brooches of silver, were principally of Indian manufac- 

 ture. For some of these bars and sheets of silver were required. 



Three bronze rings were found near finger bones in a bone pit 

 on the Tuscarora reservation, probably a Neutral ossuary. Near 

 these was a recent Canadian penny, probably dropped there in ac- 

 cordance with a local custom. When the Tuscaroras disturb bones 

 or take anything from graves, they leave a small coin as an atone- 

 ment or fair exchange. Thomas. Explorations, p. 513 



Most collections made from recent Iroquois sites have these 

 bronze rings, and those represented are selected from the many 

 which have met the writer's eye. One of the most remarkable is 

 perfectly plain, and is in the Hildburgh collection. It is a simple 

 brass or copper cylinder, about £ of an inch long, and was found 

 in Ontario county. Fig. 366 shows this fine example. Many arti- 

 cles which have a copper hue externally, appear yellow when cut. 



